.vault
Is .vault a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.vault is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Identity Digital. XYZ named .vault as a backup string for its .via application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .vault as a backup string for its .swap application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A security-flavored word that suits crypto custody, storage and archive brands as a side address, but rarely as the main one.
crypto custody and DeFi "vault" products, password-manager and backup services, archive and collectibles projects, plus a secondary tier of security-themed landers for brands that already own a conventional address
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .swap application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .via 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 borrowed physical-container noun sold as a brandable home for "keep your valuables/data here" services, where the operator's whole identity is the promise of safekeeping rather than any industry.
Same bet on a short security-object/adjective noun whose value rests entirely on connoting protection, so it attracts custody, backup and password-type operators plus everyone who just wants the word's reassurance.
Same shape — a plain category noun that a whole keep-my-stuff industry could put its primary identity on — but it is the mundane utility framing rather than the premium high-security framing .vault is selling.
What a .vault domain is
.vault is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Crypto. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .vault domain extension real yet?
.vault 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 .vault domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .vault name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .vault was .locker, delegated on 27 May 2016.
Is .vault a real TLD?
Not yet. .vault is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .vault is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“NA2631T-T21073 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .swap · Deactivated PB2674T-T77385 · Paws Button, LLC · primary XL2625T-T42318 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .via · Deactivated”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a real English noun with a strong single-meaning connotation (locked, safe, stored), and 'vault' is a common product noun across crypto custody, DeFi yield products, password managers, cloud backup and digital archives, so there is genuine demand for name.vault as a product or feature address and as a defensive registration by brands that already use the word. It is not in the 50-69 band because the typical buyer is likely to use it as a secondary or campaign address rather than a primary identity: a serious custody or security business tends to want a conventional ending for trust, and a security-themed ending on an unfamiliar namespace can read as a phishing cue to cautious users, which blunts the brand signal the word otherwise offers. It is not in the 10-29 band because the demand is not event-driven or joke-driven; the semantic fits a durable category (digital asset storage and security) and should support steady registrations over the next 5 years rather than a spike and fade. By analogy (flagged as analogy), single-word finance- and security-adjacent TLDs run by portfolio operators have tended to attract real but modest registration bases, used mostly for product sub-brands, landers and defensive holdings, with a thin aftermarket; I expect .vault to behave similarly. On the record, Identity Digital holds the one confirmed standard application, with two deactivated applications from other operators; registration volume and pricing tier are unknown. Main market uncertainty: whether crypto and security products treat a .vault address as a primary identity they promote, or only as a redirect behind a conventional address; the former would push the score toward the top of the band or above it, the latter keeps it near the middle.