.pool
Is .pool a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.pool is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Phoenix Domain Partners. XYZ named .pool as a backup string for its .tex application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A descriptive niche name for pool businesses and crypto "pool" projects; handy keyword, but rarely a serious primary brand.
swimming-pool builders, service and supply companies, plus crypto teams running staking, mining, or liquidity pools who want a literal label
One of 13 strings Phoenix Domain Partners published as applied-and-paid in the ICANN 2026 round, reported by Domain Name Wire on 2026-08-17.
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .tex application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a short generic noun for a home-systems trade whose primary registrants are local installers and service companies putting their whole business identity on the category word.
Same structural bet: a physical home-feature noun sold to the build/remodel/supply chain around that feature, wagering that one feature is a deep enough industry to anchor an identity.
Same bet: a singular category noun covering one installed-on-the-property product industry end to end (makers, dealers, installers, servicers), so its value rests on that single vertical being deep rather than broad.
What a .pool domain is
.pool is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .pool domain extension real yet?
.pool 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 .pool domain?
You can’t yet. A .pool 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 .pool was .plumbing, delegated on 14 November 2013.
Is .pool a real TLD?
Not yet. .pool is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .pool is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- XYZ · first recordedICANN
- Phoenix Domain Partners · now confirmedICANN
- Phoenix Domain Partners · first recordedDomain Name Wire
“MLG2688T-T69603 · 101130013 Saskatchewan Ltd. · primary XL2625T-T76885 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .tex · Deactivated”ICANN
“MLG2688T-T69603 · 101130013 Saskatchewan Ltd. · primary”ICANN
“Phoenix Domain Partners published 13 strings for which it says it has applied and paid the application fees.”Domain Name Wire
- The string has two plausible buyer groups: the swimming-pool trade (builders, maintenance, retailers) and crypto projects where 'pool' is a core term (staking, mining, liquidity pools). By analogy with other service-trade TLDs such as .plumbing and .contractors — which saw thin registration demand and little primary-identity use — the trade side likely produces price-driven, low-volume registrations rather than flagship brands; that inference is from analogy, not figures. The crypto side is the more interesting upside by analogy with keyword TLDs like .finance and .exchange that found genuine primary-identity adoption among DeFi projects, but whether pool-named crypto products would switch identities to a new TLD is unknown and is my main market uncertainty over the next 5 years. I place it in the 30-49 band: it is above vanity (10-29) because it is a common commercial keyword with two real demand pools, but below strong-niche (50-69) because there is no evidence of sustained primary-identity demand and close analogs underperformed.