diff --git a/internal/registry/config.go b/internal/registry/config.go
index 6abc299be..fab9e8ab5 100644
--- a/internal/registry/config.go
+++ b/internal/registry/config.go
@@ -105,10 +105,6 @@ func (config *serviceConfig) loadInsecureRegistries(registries []string) error {
 
 skip:
 	for _, r := range registries {
-		// validate insecure registry
-		if _, err := ValidateIndexName(r); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
 		if scheme, host, ok := strings.Cut(r, "://"); ok {
 			switch strings.ToLower(scheme) {
 			case "http", "https":
@@ -219,16 +215,6 @@ func isCIDRMatch(cidrs []*registry.NetIPNet, urlHost string) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
-// ValidateIndexName validates an index name. It is used by the daemon to
-// validate the daemon configuration.
-func ValidateIndexName(val string) (string, error) {
-	val = normalizeIndexName(val)
-	if strings.HasPrefix(val, "-") || strings.HasSuffix(val, "-") {
-		return "", invalidParamf("invalid index name (%s). Cannot begin or end with a hyphen", val)
-	}
-	return val, nil
-}
-
 func normalizeIndexName(val string) string {
 	if val == "index.docker.io" {
 		return "docker.io"
diff --git a/internal/registry/config_test.go b/internal/registry/config_test.go
index f3d8b4c44..7e0838fe5 100644
--- a/internal/registry/config_test.go
+++ b/internal/registry/config_test.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 
 	cerrdefs "github.com/containerd/errdefs"
 	"gotest.tools/v3/assert"
-	is "gotest.tools/v3/assert/cmp"
 )
 
 func TestLoadInsecureRegistries(t *testing.T) {
@@ -46,10 +45,6 @@ func TestLoadInsecureRegistries(t *testing.T) {
 			registries: []string{"svn://myregistry.example.com"},
 			err:        "insecure registry svn://myregistry.example.com should not contain '://'",
 		},
-		{
-			registries: []string{"-invalid-registry"},
-			err:        "Cannot begin or end with a hyphen",
-		},
 		{
 			registries: []string{`mytest-.com`},
 			err:        `insecure registry mytest-.com is not valid: invalid host "mytest-.com"`,
@@ -96,63 +91,3 @@ func TestLoadInsecureRegistries(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
-
-func TestValidateIndexName(t *testing.T) {
-	valid := []struct {
-		index  string
-		expect string
-	}{
-		{
-			index:  "index.docker.io",
-			expect: "docker.io",
-		},
-		{
-			index:  "example.com",
-			expect: "example.com",
-		},
-		{
-			index:  "127.0.0.1:8080",
-			expect: "127.0.0.1:8080",
-		},
-		{
-			index:  "mytest-1.com",
-			expect: "mytest-1.com",
-		},
-		{
-			index:  "mirror-1.example.com/v1/?q=foo",
-			expect: "mirror-1.example.com/v1/?q=foo",
-		},
-	}
-
-	for _, testCase := range valid {
-		result, err := ValidateIndexName(testCase.index)
-		if assert.Check(t, err) {
-			assert.Check(t, is.Equal(testCase.expect, result))
-		}
-	}
-}
-
-func TestValidateIndexNameWithError(t *testing.T) {
-	invalid := []struct {
-		index string
-		err   string
-	}{
-		{
-			index: "docker.io-",
-			err:   "invalid index name (docker.io-). Cannot begin or end with a hyphen",
-		},
-		{
-			index: "-example.com",
-			err:   "invalid index name (-example.com). Cannot begin or end with a hyphen",
-		},
-		{
-			index: "mirror-1.example.com/v1/?q=foo-",
-			err:   "invalid index name (mirror-1.example.com/v1/?q=foo-). Cannot begin or end with a hyphen",
-		},
-	}
-	for _, testCase := range invalid {
-		_, err := ValidateIndexName(testCase.index)
-		assert.Check(t, is.Error(err, testCase.err))
-		assert.Check(t, cerrdefs.IsInvalidArgument(err))
-	}
-}