In addition to making the Google Chrome Web Store Developer Preview available today, Google also announced in a different post on The Chromium Blog the introduction of two new security requirements to the Google Chrome Extensions Gallery.
The first requirement is a one-time $5 developer sign-up fee, which is aimed to prevent fraudulent extensions and malicious developer accounts activity. As of today, new developers will have to pay the $5 fee in order to publish their extensions, themes, and pretty soon applications in the Google Chrome Extensions Gallery, which will be replaced with the new upcoming Chrome Web Store.
Google states that registered developer who signed-up today before 11:00 AM Pacific Time — 2:00 PM Eastern Time — will not be required to pay the $5 fee. They can continue to update their items and list new extensions and themes normally.
The second new requirement or feature is a domain verification system, which allow developers to link their extensions, themes, and soon apps to a certain domains that they either own or manage. This will ensure that customers and users can identify “official” items in the Chrome Extensions Gallery.
via Erictric