.xyz
 | |
| Introduced | February 19, 2014 (root server) June 2, 2014 (general public) |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Generic top-level domain (gTLD) |
| Status | Active |
| Registry |
|
| Intended use | None |
| Registration restrictions | None |
| Documents | ICANN Registry Agreement |
| DNSSEC | Yes |
| Registry website | gen |
.xyz is a top-level domain name that was proposed in ICANN's new generic top-level domain (gTLD) Program for it notably consisting of the last three letters of the Latin-script alphabet. XYZ.com and CentralNic are the registries for the domain, which was created by entrepreneur Daniel Negari.[1] It became available to the general public on June 2, 2014, thereafter becoming widely used by tech startups, creators, and Web3 projects.
Adoption
[edit].xyz was the largest of its cohort of newly-released TLDs.[2] Negari paid US$185,000 for the domain.[3]
In mid-2014, domain name registrar Network Solutions gave away potentially hundreds of thousands of .xyz domains by placing them into some customer accounts on an opt-out basis. This resulted in domain name registry VeriSign bringing a lawsuit alleging that Network Solutions paid for these domains using advertising credit.[4][5][6] In part due to this promotion, the number of registered .xyz domains reached 428,806 by August 2014; however, only roughly 10,000 of the promotional domains out of the 351,457 given away were in actual use by July 2015.[6]
In November 2015, .xyz reached 1.5 million domain name registrations, possibly boosted in part by Google's decision to use abc.xyz for its corporate (Alphabet Inc.) website, one of the first major corporations to use the domain.[7][8][9] Google reportedly paid Negari US$8 per month to maintain the domain.[3]
On June 1, 2017, .XYZ launched the 1.111B class .xyz domains, cheap domains priced at US$0.99 per year and renewed at the same price. The class of domains consists of 6-digit, 7-digit, 8-digit, and 9-digit numeric combinations between 000000.xyz and 999999999.xyz. Daniel Negari, CEO of .XYZ, stated that it was meant to bring competition, choice, and innovation to the market.[10][11]
In 2020, .xyz had the seventh-most registrations of all TLDs with 3,182,692 registered domains. In 2022, it had risen to the fourth-most registrations (below .com, .net, and .org), with 4,563,254 registrations.[12]
A 2022 analysis showed that 93% of all .xyz domain name registrations lasted for only the minimum registration time of one year, compared to 60% for more mainstream TLDs such as .com and .net.[13]
By mid-2025, over 6 million domains had been registered using the .xyz TLD.[14]
Malicious domains
[edit]In 2023, the Anti-Phishing Working Group stated that the .xyz and .shop domain names were in the top 5 for malicious domain registrations, due to low prices and quick registration processes.[15] It was estimated in 2022 that 6.62% of extant domains in the .xyz TLD were malicious.[13] Due to these instances of malware, scams, and phishing, multiple anti-malware vendors have blacklisted many or all .xyz domains.[16]
Malicious domains in the .xyz TLD were found to have, on average, significantly shorter lifetimes than in other TLDs, with 97–99% of malicious .xyz domains having lifetimes shorter than one year (the minimum domain registration period), with a median deletion time of 13 days after being blocklisted.[13]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Said, By Carolyn (August 1, 2015). "What's in a name? .xyz, others vie for Web domain dominance". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
- ^ "Disposable botnets". dl.acm.org. doi:10.1145/3407023.3409177. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- ^ a b "Is .xyz the new .com? | HackerNoon". hackernoon.com. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
- ^ Allemann, Andrew (August 19, 2015). "Verisign presses Network Solutions for details on .XYZ registrations". Domain Name Wire. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
- ^ Gibbs, Mark (August 4, 2015). "NetSol's new con; renewing unwanted .xyz domains". Network World. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
- ^ a b "From .academy to .zone". dl.acm.org. doi:10.1145/2815675.2815696. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- ^ Ewing, Jack; Hardy, Quentin (August 11, 2015). "Alphabet? Google Might Get Some Letters". The New York Times (published August 12, 2015). Archived from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
- ^ Roberts, Jeff John (August 13, 2015). "Squatters swoop on Google ".xyz" names in wake of Alphabet". Fortune. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
- ^ Berkens, Michael (November 23, 2015). ".XYZ Tops 1.5 Million Domains As Domain Registrations Return To Normal". The Domains. Archived from the original on November 24, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
- ^ "1.111 Billion .XYZ Domain Names" (Press release). Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ ".XYZ's New 1.111B Class of Domains". HEXONET Blog. July 1, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
- ^ Aguerre, Carolina (May 4, 2023). "The legacies of long tail and the unfolding of consolidation and concentration in the top-level domain sector". Journal of Cyber Policy. 8 (2): 218–238. doi:10.1080/23738871.2023.2290057. ISSN 2373-8871.
- ^ a b c Affinito, Antonia; Sommese, Raffaele; Akiwate, Gautam; Savage, Stefan; Voelker, Geoffrey; Botta, Alessio; Jonker, Mattijs; Claffy, KC (2022). "Domain name lifetimes: baseline and threats". Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference (TMA).
- ^ ".xyz | Top-Level Domain Breakdown". nTLDStats. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
- ^ Fadilpašić, Sead (December 9, 2024). "New domain names such as .shop and .xyz are proving popular for cybercrime". Tech Radar. Future US, Inc. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- ^ Proske, Sandra (May 6, 2019). "Why is there's so much spam coming from .xyz and other new top-level domains?". F-Secure Blog. Archived from the original on October 4, 2024. Retrieved January 10, 2025.