More like there are actual legal consequences to do so. Remember that they've only sold the registrar part, not the registry part (aka the one operating .dev and .zip among others). ICANN binds Google (and others) to maintain all validly-purchased domains, whether by a slow shutdown (no renewals, only obligation of current period) or by acquiring it by some other registrar: Squarespace (or more specifically its subsidiary) is already an accredited registrar (https://www.icann.org/en/accredited-registrars?page=1&iana-n...). The "carrot" is even stronger for Google because if ICANN sees them as naughty, ICANN can pull the registry part (which also holds their .goog and .google TLDs) and make Google's life miserable.