Markmonitor Group launches services to help businesses address risks associated with new domains.
London, October 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Markmonitor Group, the world’s leading provider of enterprise domain management, welcomed yesterday’s announcement that hundreds of companies are applying for their own top-level domains to protect their online identities; however, the company issued a cautious warning that the proliferation of new domain extensions could be exploited for cyberfraud.
In addition to new domain suffixes such as .alphabet, .claude, .ethereum, .mitsui, .roblox, and .tiktok, which these companies are set to use for their official websites, the internet domain regulator ICANN announced last night that hundreds of terms—including .brain, .bro, .geek, .mars, .moon, .nerd, .nsfw, .omg, and .stupid, as well as geographic names like .beijing, .roma, and .bali—may soon become part of the internet infrastructure following an objection process.
Ben Crawford, CEO of Markmonitor Group, said: “We congratulate ICANN for allowing businesses to register their brands at the top level of the internet. This level was previously reserved only for country codes such as .uk and .fr. Among our clients are many of the world’s most well-known brands, as well as forward-thinking early adopters who recognize the value of owning a dotBrand top-level domain—the only global and permanent category of intellectual property.”
He also stated: "However, the emergence of hundreds of new non-brand domain extensions in the future could pose potential risks, including increased costs for businesses and potential fraud targeting their customers."
Stuart Fuller, Senior Vice President at Markmonitor Group, added: “We have established an emergency service for companies that missed this opportunity, are concerned about potential trademark infringement, or simply need to understand the new risks and opportunities brought by this major shift in internet infrastructure.”
Background overview
On Wednesday evening (UK time), ICANN, the international body responsible for regulating internet domain names, disclosed detailed information about 1,615 new generic top-level domain (new gTLD) applications during a "Reveal Day" event. These applications came from 56 countries.
Anyone can submit a new gTLD application during the application window from April to August this year by paying a fee of $227,000 to ICANN, with annual management costs of approximately $100,000 thereafter. After ICANN completes its initial review, the details of these applications are now publicly available.
The top-level domain (TLD) is the final part of a domain name after the dot, such as .com, .org, and .net. After obtaining a new gTLD, the applicant may operate it publicly to offer second-level domains to the general public, or restrict its use exclusively to their own company or brand.
In the latest round of applications, 333 gTLD applications were composed of brand names, with 155 from North America, 64 from Europe, and 107 from the Asia-Pacific region. These include:
- .adobe
- .airbnb
- .anthropic
- .chatgpt
- .ebay
- .fitbit
- .railway
- .roblox
- .waymo
- .zoho
Several popular terms attracted multiple applications, including:
- .agent
- .agentic
- .bit
- .brand
- .crypto
- .gpt
- .hub
- .robot
Notably, during this period, holders of existing legitimate rights (such as trademark owners) will be able to challenge any new gTLD applications that infringe upon their rights through established mechanisms.
Following yesterday's disclosure, as of October 21, new gTLD applicants wishing to avoid potential conflicts may choose to substitute an alternative string for their preferred string.
Thereafter, ICANN will publish the final list of new gTLD applications on November 17. This will also mark the beginning of a 104-day formal public comment and objection period.
The last gTLD expansion occurred in 2012, resulting in over 1,200 new gTLDs being added to the internet system, including generic terms such as .XYZ, .Shop, and .Club, geographic terms such as .London and .NYC, and brands such as .Sky, .HSBC, and .Shell.
Markmonitor Group is the global leader in supporting dotBrand applications and registration management, providing domain management and online brand protection services to thousands of companies worldwide. Markmonitor has been deeply involved throughout the entire development of the new gTLD application process, enabling it to offer unique insights into the opportunities and challenges presented by new gTLDs.
2026 application round statistics and application details can be found at: https://newgtldprogram-aps.icann.org/statistics
For more details, visit: https://markmonitorgroup.com