.official
Is .official a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.official is contested: 8 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, XServer, Identity Digital, iRegistry, CamConnecting, Cardelina Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada, Radix and Link Freedom Group.
Who is applying, and what they run today
Five of the eight already run TLDs, 37.25M names between them. Cardelina Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada, Link Freedom Group and XServer run none.
Will names sell?
A name that promises 'this is really us,' but the promise only holds if the registry checks identities; otherwise it invites fakes.
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. .official’s closest 2012 strings hold .trust 56, .secure 2 and .best 54K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .trust, held 56 names, June 2026. .secure held 2; .best held 54,475. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: an abstract credibility-claim string whose entire value is the endorsement it implies about the registrant's own name, which only pays off if the registry gates and validates who may claim it.
Also a property-claim qualifier that brands would bolt onto their existing identity (brand.secure / brand.official) rather than a category anyone browses, and it likewise collapses into noise the moment anyone can buy it.
Same shape of bet in the unvalidated direction: a pure self-conferred superiority label with no category meaning, sold to anyone who wants the adjective attached to their name.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .official included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × Radix
- Link Freedom Group × Radix
brands, public figures, and organizations wanting a canonical this-is-really-us address, plus trademark holders registering defensively to keep impersonators off the string
What a .official domain is
.official is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Brand category. 8 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .official domain extension real yet?
.official 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 .official domain?
You can’t yet. A .official 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 .official was .trust, delegated on 6 December 2014.
Is .official a real TLD?
Not yet. .official is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .official is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 6 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Radix · first recordedRadix
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 8 linesHide the lines
CCS2640T-T64563 · Cam Connecting SARL · primary · contention set 2026-168 CS2595-T95743 · Cardelina Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada · primary · contention set 2026-168 IG2663T-T85800 · iRegistry GmbH · primary · contention set 2026-168 LFGL2683T-T54503 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-168 RTIS2674T-T10767 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-168 VSL2633T-T77260 · Vinyl Strings, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-168 XCI2688T-T22077 · XServer Cloud Incorporated · primary · contention set 2026-168 XL2625T-T64446 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-168
“Radix has applied for these TLDs; we do not own or operate them today.”Radix
“.official · Lifestyle · “All in, all the time.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string's semantic pull is real: 'brand.official' reads as a canonical, authentic address, and over the next 5 years demand should come in two forms: brands adopting it as an authenticity marker and, more commonly, trademark holders registering defensively because an unpoliced 'official' namespace is a natural phishing and impersonation vector. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no single category where it would plausibly become a primary-identity default within 5 years: by analogy with other authenticity- and descriptor-flavored gTLDs, brands have tended to keep their primary identity on legacy namespaces and treat strings like this as redirects or defensive holdings (analogy, not asserted fact). It is not in the 10-29 band because the demand is broader than vanity: defensive registration pressure across many trademark holders plus genuine brand-verification use cases give it volume and some sustained utility, unlike joke or event-driven strings. The core tension is that the word's entire value is a trust claim the DNS cannot enforce by itself: if anyone can register anything.official, security teams and consumers will learn to distrust it, which caps brand-signal value and the aftermarket. Applicant context: the applicant filed a very large portfolio of strings in the round and published its list ahead of Reveal Day; the catalog entry files this string under 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'All in, all the time.', which suggests a broad-market rather than verified-registry positioning, informing (but not deciding) my adoption read. Main market uncertainty: whether real brands will pay a premium to occupy their .official name proactively, or only register reactively at commodity prices once impersonation incidents force their hand, which determines whether this is a mid-tier brand-protection namespace or a low-yield defensive one.