.bold
Is .bold a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .bold in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. ShortDot named .bold as the backup string of its .bit application.
A niche TLD for creative agencies, fashion and lifestyle brands, personal-brand and campaign sites that want a "be bold" tagline as their address, plus registrants attracted by promotional pricing.
Nobody has applied for .bold in its own right.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .cool, held 23,197 names, June 2026. .best held 54,475; .hot held 1,185. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet exactly: a contentless attitude adjective with no category to anchor it, sold purely on the connotation a registrant wants stamped on their identity, so it works only if the word's vibe is worth more than a .com.
Also an evaluative English adjective open to anyone, monetized as a self-flattering claim rather than a category membership — the buyer is whoever wants the adjective applied to themselves, not an industry.
Another short punchy attitude adjective betting that a mood word can carry a primary brand identity, though it skews toward hype/trending usage and adult-adjacent connotation rather than .bold's brand-character positioning.
creative agencies, fashion and lifestyle brands, personal-brand and campaign sites that want a "be bold" tagline as their address, plus registrants attracted by promotional pricing
What a .bold domain is
.bold is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Brand category. Nobody has applied for .bold in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .bold domain extension real yet?
.bold is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .bold domain?
You can’t yet. A .bold 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 .bold was .cool, delegated on 23 January 2014.
Is .bold a real TLD?
Not yet. .bold is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .bold as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- ShortDot · now replacementICANN
- ShortDot · now announced
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
“NA2626T-T67212 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · replacement string of .bit”ICANN
“ShortDot (Ireland) Limited has submitted 40 applications to ICANN's 2026 New gTLD Program. The 80 strings shown include applied-for and designated replacement strings across ShortDot's 40 ICANN applications, presented without revealing their status or pairing.”ShortDot (Ireland) Limited
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49). .bold is a common English adjective with obvious slogan value (be.bold, go.bold, stay.bold), which by analogy to earlier adjective and attitude TLDs such as .cool, .rocks, .ninja and .fun (flagged as analogy) tends to produce campaign microsites, personal brands and creative-studio sites rather than durable primary identities; registration volumes for those strings are unknown to me, but their aftermarkets have been thin and few notable companies have built a lasting main identity on them. It is not in the strong-niche band above because no single category treats an adjective ending as a default identity and there is no evidence of sustained resale demand; it is above the vanity band below because the word is short, positive, brand-compatible and readable in a way that supports genuine (if occasional) primary use rather than only joke registrations. The likely operator's portfolio (.icu, .cyou, .bond, .cfd, .sbs, per the record) suggests a volume-and-price distribution model, which by analogy (flagged) tends to lift registration counts while diluting the brand signal. Main market uncertainty: whether .bold is positioned and priced as a brand-suffix string that attracts creative businesses, or as a promotional-volume string whose registrant mix weakens its credibility for serious use.