- New gTLD round goes public: ICANN revealed 1,615 applications for new extensions, and the final list firms up on November 17.
- .AGENT is the big fight: 13 applicants, including Google, OpenAI and Meta, want .AGNET, and its auction could top $50 million.
- .SI keeps climbing: Slovenia's ccTLD added 46,066 names in September as "Super Intelligence" speculation rolled on.
- Big .COM deals continue: Clarity.com sold for $3.5 million, and Nor.com went for $700,000.
Introduction
October was the month the 2026 new gTLD round went public. ICANN published every application, and the industry spent the rest of the month working out who wants which extension and how much they might pay for it.
Outside the round, .SIi speculation kept rolling, parking income took another hit, and buyers kept paying big money for short .COM names. Here's what happened and what it means for your portfolio.
Top headlines
ICANN published 1,615 applications for new top-level domains on October 7. Its Reveal Day announcement breaks them down into 333 brand applications, 21 IDNs, 16 community applications and 15 geographic ones. North America led with 864 applications, and Europe followed with 506. You can browse the full application list on ICANN's site.
For investors, this is the official list of extensions that could compete with existing TLDs over the next few years. Nothing launches soon, so treat it as a watch list for now.
Sources: ICANN
.AGENT drew 13 applicants, more than any other string. Domain Name Wire lists Google, OpenAI, Meta, Alibaba, Identity Digital, Radix, XYZ and Intercap among them and estimates an auction could pass $50 million. For comparison, .APP went for $25 million in the last round. On November 17, ICANN reveals which applicants withdrew or switched strings, the first sign of how crowded contests like .AGENT will stay.
AI-themed strings are the hottest part of the round. If .AGENT launches with a big operator behind it, expect strong interest in short, keyword-rich names at the second level.
Source: Domain Name Wire
Slovenia's .SI added 46,066 new registrations in September, bringing the total to 460,818 by October 28. The spark was the US government's shift to "Super Intelligence" wording.
We covered the start of this wave last month. The lesson now is speed: speculative demand can form in days, and the resale market fills up just as fast. Price your .SI names with that in mind.
Source: Dynadot Blog
ICANN found that 56.4% of maliciously registered gTLD names had at least one associated domain. Its new report spots those links using only public registration and DNS data. The findings now feed ICANN's DNS abuse policy work.
For investors, the point is registration habits. If future rules ask registrars to check linked domains, portfolios built from many names at once could get a closer look.
Source: ICANN
New gTLDs make up 15% of all registrations but 52% of malicious ones, according to an Interisle report. ICANN is now looking into bulk registrations.
If you hand-register names in volume, this is one to watch. New rules on bulk registration could change how you build a portfolio.
Source: Domain Name Wire
In the new gTLD round, geographic strings are losing steam. Only 15 geo applications came in, down from 66 in 2012, and Texas is opposing any .TEXAS application. Dot-brands are back, though. Domain Name Wire counted 345 dot-brand applications, including Lovable, Vercel, the NHL and Meta's .SUPERINTELLIGENCE.
Sources: Domain Name Wire (geo TLDs, dot-brands)
The company formerly known as Hiive announced that they paid $3.5 million for Clarity.com, which DNJournal ranks as the fourth-largest public sale of 2026 (but reportedly it happened in March this year). Nor.com sold for $700,000 via Atom, the second-largest three-letter .com sale of the year. Treasury.com also now forwards to Stripe, which points to a quiet acquisition, though the price wasn't disclosed.
For investors, funded companies are still paying top prices to upgrade to short, one-word .COM names. Strong .COM inventory keeps finding buyers.
Sources: DNJournal, DomainInvesting (Nor.com, Treasury.com)
Top domain sales
October's biggest reported sales were a mix of short .COM names and .AI domains. TradingCards.com led the month at $2 million through Afternic, and .AI names kept trading at six figures on Spaceship.
| Rank | Domain | Sale price | Date | Venue |
| 1 | tradingcards.com | $2,000,000 | 2026-10-15 | Afternic |
| 2 | nor.com | $700,000 | 2026-10-15 | Atom.com |
| 3 | tick.com | $600,000 | 2026-10-27 | Sedo |
| 4 | daytona.com | $500,000 | 2026-10-20 | Private |
| 5 | act.ai | $375,000 | 2026-10-05 | Spaceship.com |
| 6 | liquid.org | $300,000 | 2026-10-08 | Atom.com |
| 7 | ete.com | $250,000 | 2026-10-20 | Afternic |
| 8 | spacexsi.com | $174,000 | 2026-10-07 | Spaceship.com |
| 9 | rooms.ai | $157,000 | 2026-10-10 | Spaceship.com |
| 10 | critical.ai | $150,000 | 2026-10-05 | Spaceship.com |
The pattern is easy to read. End users and funded startups are still paying top prices for one-word and short .COM names. Meanwhile, .AI remains the most active alternative extension in the upper price brackets. Some of the month's biggest deals also happened privately, as covered in the headlines above.
Looking ahead
November brings the industry together at NamesCon, and the .WEB launch is close behind.
- November 11–12: NamesCon Global comes to Miami. Stop by and see the Dynadot team at booth #115.
- Mid-December: The .WEB sunrise opens, a 30-day window for trademark holders. Verisign has spent $171.4 million in total on .WEB, so expect a big launch push behind it.
If you hold strong .COM names, now is a good time to decide which .WEB matches are worth a defensive registration. We'll keep tracking the round every month.
Sources: Domain Name Wire (.WEB launch dates, .WEB costs)