.loop
Is .loop a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.loop is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital and Oinkadot. XYZ Registry named .loop as a backup string for its .slot application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .loop as a backup string for its .ops application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .loop as a backup string for its .met 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 .loop's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .circle. Oinkadot runs none.
Will names sell?
A catchy word ending for apps, communities, and music projects, but few serious projects will make it their main web address.
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. .loop’s closest 2012 strings hold .link 310K, .circle 2 and .spot 2K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .link, held 310,085 names, June 2026. .circle held 2; .spot held 1,606. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a short, everyday connectivity metaphor with no incumbent industry that owns it, sold as an open brandable namespace where the registry has to manufacture meaning rather than harvest an existing registrant class.
Same bet: an abstract shape/togetherness noun that nobody 'is' by trade, pitched at startups, apps and communities who want an evocative short name, so its value rests entirely on connotation rather than on a defined buyer pool.
Same bet in form — a four-letter common English word with loose, suggestive meaning and no natural profession or category behind it — though it leans locational where the target leans relational, so the buyer story is adjacent rather than identical.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .loop included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
startups and side projects already named Loop-something, plus newsletter/community builders (the 'in the loop' framing), music and creator tools, and automation or feedback-loop products wanting a short branded address
What a .loop domain is
.loop is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .loop domain extension real yet?
.loop 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 .loop domain?
You can’t yet. A .loop 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 .loop was .link, delegated on 18 January 2014.
Is .loop a real TLD?
Not yet. .loop is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .loop is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Oinkadot · now confirmedICANN
- Oinkadot · first recordedDomain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann)
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“MLL2689T-T58656 · Mythic Link, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-141 OI2692T-T96497 · Oinkadot Inc · primary · contention set 2026-141”ICANN
The source’s 5 linesHide the lines
LFGL2683T-T49475 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .met · Deactivated MLL2689T-T58656 · Mythic Link, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-141 NA2631T-T23964 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .ops · Deactivated OI2692T-T96497 · Oinkadot Inc · primary · contention set 2026-141 XL2625T-T19823 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .slot · Deactivated
“A new partnership has applied for 25 top level domain names in this year's ICANN TLD expansion round.”Domain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann)
“.loop · Lifestyle · “Round and round.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49). 'Loop' is a genuinely likable English word with real brandable pull: 'in the loop' communities and newsletters, feedback/automation loops in software, music loops, and a crowded field of companies that already use Loop in their names, so registrations at volume are plausible and some vanity or campaign use is likely over the next 5 years. It does not reach the 50-69 niche band because no single category treats .loop as its natural home: the word is semantically diffuse (tech, music, lifestyle, logistics all claim it), and by analogy with other pleasant generic-word TLDs such as .live, .link, or .space (analogy), such strings tend to sell on price and sit as secondary or redirect domains rather than primary identities, with thin aftermarkets. It is above the 10-29 band because demand is broader than a joke or event: Loop is a common real brand name, the word carries positive product connotations, and short generic-word endings of this type have historically found steady if unspectacular registration bases (analogy). The applicant's published catalog files it under 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'Round and round.', suggesting a broad consumer positioning rather than a focused vertical, which fits the diffuse-demand read; the applicant filed more than 300 strings in the round, consistent with a portfolio play rather than a category-building push, which I weigh only as an adoption-likelihood input. Main market uncertainty: whether the many existing Loop-named companies would ever adopt name.loop as a primary identity or only defensively register, which is the difference between a thin aftermarket and a modestly real one.