.hack
Is .hack a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.hack is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital, Oinkadot and Link Freedom Group. Automattic named .hack 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 three already run TLDs, 14.80M names between them. Two run one of .hack's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .guru and Identity Digital .ninja. Link Freedom Group and Oinkadot run none.
Will names sell?
A playful pick for hackathons and developer culture, but the word's cybercrime edge keeps most serious brands from living on 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. .hack’s closest 2012 strings hold .ninja 25K, .hiphop 1K and .guru 61K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .ninja, held 25,488 names, June 2026. .hiphop held 1,313; .guru held 60,916. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: an edgy, self-applied insider badge drawn from tech-adjacent slang, sold open to individuals and small shops who want the label as their identity rather than a category descriptor, and it works only if the tribe reads the word as flattering.
Same bet on a subculture's own name as a namespace, where registrants are members claiming membership, so value rests entirely on whether a community with strong internal identity relocates its primary identity onto a TLD.
Same bet on a slangy competence badge people apply to themselves for personal branding in a broad open registry, though it lacks the transgressive edge and the defined community that narrow .hack's adoption case.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group face each other in 68 contests this round, .hack included.
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × Oinkadot
- Identity Digital × Automattic
- Link Freedom Group × Oinkadot
- Link Freedom Group × Automattic
hackathon organizers, developer communities, and indie builders who want a punchy phrase domain (think life.hack or growth.hack); security-adjacent brands are more likely to use it for campaigns than as a primary identity
What a .hack domain is
.hack is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .hack domain extension real yet?
.hack 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 .hack domain?
You can’t yet. A .hack 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 .hack was .ninja, delegated on 28 December 2013.
Is .hack a real TLD?
Not yet. .hack is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .hack is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Automattic · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Oinkadot · first recordedDomain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann)
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“AM2619T-T50862 · Acid Medal, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-105 LFGL2683T-T81905 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-105 OI2692T-T85687 · Oinkadot Inc · primary · contention set 2026-105”ICANN
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
AM2619T-T50862 · Acid Medal, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-105 KKWT2621T-T94110 · Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC · replacement string of .robot · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T81905 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-105 OI2692T-T85687 · Oinkadot Inc · primary · contention set 2026-105
“A new partnership has applied for 25 top level domain names in this year's ICANN TLD expansion round.”Domain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann)
“.hack · Culture · “Solutions that surprise.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string has genuine cultural pull in developer and maker circles, and it completes common English phrases cleanly, which should drive real registration volume on novelty and campaign use over the next 5 years. It is not in the 50-69 band because sustained primary-identity use is speculative: the word carries a strong cybercrime connotation alongside its playful one, and enterprises, mainstream brands, and possibly reputation filters are likely to treat addresses on it warily, which caps serious end-use and keeps the aftermarket thin. It is not in the 10-29 band because demand is broader than a one-note joke: hackathons, dev-community projects, and phrase-style registrations give it multiple recurring buyer pools rather than a single event-driven spike. Applicant context: the string is announced by Link Freedom Group, which filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its list ahead of Reveal Day (per Domain Name Wire, 2026-08-13), listing this string under category Culture with the tagline "Solutions that surprise."; a large-portfolio applicant suggests a volume-oriented go-to-market rather than a single-string flagship push, which fits the novelty-registration profile. Main market uncertainty: whether the dual meaning resolves in favor of the playful hacker-culture reading (lifting it toward a niche standard for hackathons and dev projects) or the criminal reading (pushing it toward pure vanity use), since renewal behavior and brand willingness hinge on that perception.