.btc
Is .btc a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.btc is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group. XYZ Registry named .btc as a backup string for its .tap application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Nano Labs named .btc as a backup string for its .robot 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
One of the two already run TLDs, 14.80M names between them. One runs one of .btc's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .forex. Link Freedom Group runs none.
Will names sell?
A natural web address for Bitcoin companies and projects; strong appeal inside crypto, little meaning outside 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. .btc’s closest 2012 strings hold .cfd 688K and .forex 1K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .cfd, held 688,049 names, June 2026. .forex held 1,350. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: an unowned three-letter insider abbreviation for a financial instrument, sold as primary identity to the brokers, platforms and education sites that make money off that instrument's ecosystem, and worth exactly as much as that ecosystem's continued growth.
Also a non-brand abbreviation naming one specific market that a self-identifying trader community uses as a badge, with the same buyer profile (brokers, signal/education sites, exchanges) and the same dependence on outsiders never needing to know what the letters expand to.
- .ira
A short acronym for a specific asset-holding vehicle rather than a category noun or a company mark, meaningless outside its ecosystem, where the registrants are the custodians and service providers serving holders of that one thing.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .btc included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
bitcoin-focused businesses and builders: exchanges, wallet and payments teams, mining operations, media, education sites, and community projects that want an identity signaling Bitcoin alignment at a glance
What a .btc domain is
.btc is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Crypto category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .btc domain extension real yet?
.btc 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 .btc domain?
You can’t yet. A .btc 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 .btc was .cfd, delegated on 13 March 2015.
Is .btc a real TLD?
Not yet. .btc is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .btc is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
ITL2677T-T15916 · Ipollo Tech Ltd · replacement string of .robot · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T12896 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-33 MH2645T-T86812 · Mystic Hammer, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-33 XL2625T-T61047 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .tap · Deactivated
“LFGL2683T-T12896 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-33 MH2645T-T86812 · Mystic Hammer, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-33”ICANN
“.btc · Crypto & Web3 · “Digital value, global reach.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 50-69, strong niche TLD. The string maps to the most widely recognized asset ticker in crypto, so an address on .btc is instantly legible to its best-fit buyer and carries a real brand signal within that world; demand from Bitcoin-adjacent businesses over the next 5 years is plausible and sustained, and some serious projects would credibly adopt it as a primary identity. It is not in the 70-89 band because .btc is not a default for the whole crypto category, only for the Bitcoin sub-segment; the broader crypto space splits identity across mainstream TLDs and off-DNS naming, and the Bitcoin community in particular has historically leaned on legacy domains for trust, so adoption still needs explaining, and phishing associations around anything Bitcoin-branded can make cautious brands hesitate. It is not in the 30-49 band because the buyer intent here is specific and motivated rather than volume-on-price: the string is a globally recognized three-letter ticker, and short exact-match keywords on it should command genuine aftermarket interest rather than a thin one. A complicating dynamic, reasoned by analogy: blockchain-based naming systems have marketed .btc-style names outside the DNS, and analogous off-DNS suffixes (.eth-style names, .crypto-style names) achieved cultural traction without ICANN delegation; a DNS .btc could either inherit that mindshare or collide with it, creating user confusion about which .btc name is authoritative. My main market uncertainty, stated explicitly: whether Bitcoin-native businesses, which are culturally conservative about trust signals and tend to anchor on established domains, will actually move primary identities to .btc rather than treating it as a defensive or redirect registration. Verified applicant context, stated neutrally: Link Freedom Group filed the string in the ICANN 2026 round as part of a catalog of more than 300 strings, listing it under Crypto & Web3 with the tagline 'Digital value, global reach.'; a portfolio-scale applicant says little either way about how this one string will be marketed. Registration volumes, pricing, and any contention set are unknown.