To clear that up a bit, you can register a channel like #domain.tld only if you control the DNS zone of the said domain, and you can't get op in a primary channel without registering it first.
Well, that is definitely one way of approaching the lack of federation in IRC
Yeah. In fact, there is a lot of networks but they are made because people want to experiment and operate a server then they wonder what they could use it for. Here, well, we had a goal and IRC was a solution, as once you have your channel you just have to add an iframe on your website and tadam, a fully functioning live webchat with permissions! ;)