The 2026 Round, filing by filing

What 1,614 applications declare to ICANN, read from the filing itself: the string's meaning, the mission, who controls the entity, which commitments were offered. Every claim carries its question number.

1,614applications1,238 standard · 333 brand · 16 community · 15 geo · 21 IDN 986strings263 of them with two applicants or more 480applicant names4 of them filed 27.6% of the round 727replacements already droppedof 1,169 declared · 442 still active at 7 October 2026

Focus · AI labsThe labs that filed, and the names no filing declaresGoogle 39 applications, Meta 18, OpenAI 15, Anthropic 2. And a long list of AI names that no published filing declares, with the terms tested and the fields searched..agent · 13 applicantsThe most applied-for string, and one community bidThirteen filings for one word. Twelve describe an open namespace; one asks for community priority and binds itself to a foundation..mcp · 5 applicantsA protocol's name, claimed five waysGoogle files .mcp as a community TLD for the Model Context Protocol; OpenAI files it as an open one; three registries file it as three letters..yeah · set 260A trademark on an interjectionBooking.com files .yeah as a closed brand TLD; an Identity Digital affiliate files it as an open generic. Same string, two readings of what a word is.

All focus pieces →

§ 1 — Register of strings, most applied-for

01	.agent	Charleston Road Registry Inc., ECHO Domain Co L.L.C., Elegant Leader Limited + 10	13
02	.bit	Aruba PEC S.P.A., Duel Meaning, LLC, Hong Kong Zhongze International Limited + 8	11
03	.api	Charleston Road Registry Inc., ECHO Domain Co L.L.C., Elegant Leader Limited + 7	10
04	.hub	HUB Culture Ltd, Hostinger UAB, Intercap Registry Inc. + 7	10
05	.brand	Internet DotTrademark Organisation Limited, Intercap Registry Inc., Link Freedom Group Ltd + 7	10
06	.robot	Zero Gravity Labs Inc., Internet Land & Cattle LLC, Intercap Registry Inc. + 6	9
07	.pop	Aruba PEC S.P.A., Beijing Guoxu Network Technology Co., Ltd., Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC + 6	9
08	.official	Cam Connecting SARL, Cardelina Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada, iRegistry GmbH + 5	8

All 986 strings →

Largest portfolios, by applicant name

Largest declared groups

Ethos Capital Digital Infrastructure UGP LLC216 applications · 28 applicant names
Starlight Aggregator LP40 applications · 20 applicant names

A group gathers the applicants that declare the same ultimate control. Nothing is inferred from names, addresses or websites.

Where applicants are

§ 3 — Who wrote the filings

We fingerprint the wording of each mission statement. 443 applications share their template with five or more others; the two largest families cover 153 and 139 filings. A measure on the text, never a claim of affiliation.

Shared with 5+ filings →

§ 4 — Back-end providers

ICANN does not publish the selected RSP (AGB Q176). What filings declare: 116 say they are a provider themselves, 225 name an affiliated RSP, 216 of those Identity Digital. For 1,273, the field reads not published.

Data →

§ 5 — What's next

8–21 Oct 2026Replacement period

17 Nov 2026String Confirmation Day — we publish the diff

→ 16 Mar 2027Community input, objections. Dates per ICANN; may change.

§ 6 — Forecast post-mortem

1,614 applications filed. Published range: 1,049 to 2,018.

182 of the 986 filed strings were in the forecast (18.5%).
18 of 2,708 forecast (string, applicant) pairs were filed (0.7%).
14 of the 23 strings we flagged for an auction are contested.

The forecast pages stay online, unchanged, with this note on top.

Read the scorecard and the four pre-registered hypotheses →