.base
Is .base a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.base is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Identity Digital and Coinbase. Link Freedom Group named .base as a backup string for its .craft application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
Who is applying, and what they run today
Two of the three already run TLDs, 26.76M names between them. Two run one of .base's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .center and Identity Digital .zone. Coinbase runs none.
Will names sell?
A crypto-flavored generic word with real appeal to web3 projects, but its value hinges on whether the like-named ecosystem embraces it.
Last round the AI scored the 2012 strings blind to their fate. Strings it scored 60 or more hold a median 27,168 names today; those under 30, a median of 30. .base’s closest 2012 strings hold .space 635K, .zone 53K and .center 50K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .space, held 634,547 names, June 2026. .zone held 52,525; .center held 50,275. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a short, common English noun whose meaning is a spatial metaphor rather than a category, so it has no natural registrant class and must be sold on open-ended suggestiveness to whoever wants a short, cheap alternative to .com.
Same bet: a container-word that names a place-you-occupy rather than an industry, monetized by letting any registrant bend the meaning to their own project, with no defining community whose identity it already is.
Same class of abstract locational noun sold as "your hub for X," but it leans more toward organizations and service points, while .base is looser and more figurative, so the buyer overlaps only partially.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .base included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
web3 builders and crypto-native projects wanting a short, foundational-sounding identity, plus generic-word brands (dev tools, communities, 'home base' plays) as a secondary pool
What a .base domain is
.base is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Crypto category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .base domain extension real yet?
.base is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. It is a string applicants have put forward in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, the process that decides whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .base domain?
You can’t yet. A .base name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .base was .space, delegated on 30 May 2014.
Is .base a real TLD?
Not yet. .base is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .base is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- 3 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
CTI2649T-T85441 · Coinbase Technologies, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-20 LFGL2683T-T10005 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .craft · Deactivated PB2674T-T96868 · Paws Button, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-20 XL2625T-T89957 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-20
“CTI2649T-T85441 · Coinbase Technologies, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-20 PB2674T-T96868 · Paws Button, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-20 XL2625T-T89957 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-20”ICANN
“.base · Crypto & Web3 · “Where it all begins.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 50-69, a strong niche TLD. The string is a common English word with broad semantic range (foundation, headquarters, fanbase, database), and by my own knowledge (not from the verified-facts block, so treated qualitatively) it coincides with the name of a widely known crypto layer-2 ecosystem, which gives it an unusually concentrated best-fit buyer pool: web3 projects that want their address to signal alignment with that ecosystem. The applicant's own catalog positions the string as Crypto & Web3 with the tagline 'Where it all begins.', consistent with that read. It is not in the 70-89 band because category-standard status inside crypto is unproven for any ICANN-delegated string; by analogy, crypto-adjacent naming demand has mostly flowed to non-ICANN namespaces, and ICANN-side crypto-themed strings have historically struggled to become primary identities, so adoption here would still need explaining and likely depends on third-party ecosystem endorsement the applicant does not control. It is not in the 30-49 band because, unlike purely descriptive filler strings, .base has a plausible primary-identity use case (project.base as an ecosystem-aligned address) plus genuine generic-word fallback demand, which by analogy with successful short generic-word TLDs supports sustained rather than purely price-driven registrations. Applicant context, stated neutrally: the applicant filed more than 300 strings in the 2026 round and published its list ahead of Reveal Day; a large-portfolio applicant model suggests marketing attention per string may be spread thin, tempering adoption expectations. Main market uncertainty (launch assumed): whether the like-named ecosystem's community treats an ICANN .base as legitimate infrastructure or ignores it in favor of its existing naming conventions; that single dynamic swings this string between a middling generic and a genuine crypto category contender over the next 5 years.