.real

The mission and purpose of .real is to give individuals, creators, and businesses a namespace to signal that their content, products, or identity are genuinely and authentically sourced or organic, distinguishing them from AI-generated, synthetic, unhealthy, or unoriginal alternatives. The applicant will drive adoption of .real through public relations outreach, direct marketing and partnership development with food producers, creators, publications, and brands, and coordinated promotion through the registrar channel to extend distribution and drive registration volume. This purpose is sustainable over time because the gap between genuine, synthetic, unhealthy, or misleading material is widening, not narrowing, as AI-generated content and unhealthy foods both become cheaper and more common — a structural trend that increases the need for a namespace signaling genuine, healthy, and real values.

The proposed .real top-level domain represents what is real - genuine, actual, and true to what it claims to be. The word is everyday shorthand for the authentic version of a thing: the real story behind it, the real thing rather than an imitation, and goods made from real materials. Intercap Registry proposes to operate .real as an open namespace, available for registration by the general public without restriction. Intended registrants include individuals, creators, businesses, and organizations of all kinds that want an address for the genuine article, the full account of something, or original material. Intended users are members of the general public seeking those resources. Intercap Registry will make .real names available worldwide through ICANN-accredited registrars, promote awareness and adoption of the namespace, publish its registration policies ahead of launch, operate the TLD openly, respond promptly to reports of abuse, and comply with applicable safeguards. Demand for this category is durable: describing something as real, genuine, or authentic is standing language in publishing and commerce across sectors, tied to no trend or single company.

Link Freedom Group (LFG) aspires to become a best-in-class, vertically integrated domain name registration authority, see linkfreedomgroup.link. This TLD is part of a carefully curated portfolio of strings that LFG intends to pursue in ICANN’s 2026 New gTLD Program. In assembling this portfolio, LFG focused on securing meaningful, memorable, and commercially compelling strings that resonate strongly with end users and offer long-term growth potential. Over the past four years, LFG (Nova Registry) has successfully grown its flagship TLD, .LINK, from approximately 125,000 to more than 300,000 domains under management. This growth has been driven by innovative distribution strategies, the expansion of registrar partnerships, and a granular pricing model that has enabled .LINK to remain competitively priced while avoiding the significant fee increases implemented by some other registry operators. LFG’s experience in the domain name industry has reinforced one of the key lessons from the 2012 application round: long-term sustainability is strengthened through portfolio diversification. By spreading operational costs and mitigating revenue fluctuations across multiple TLDs, LFG is better positioned to withstand market volatility and invest in continued growth. Accordingly, LFG believes that even obtaining a subset of the TLDs for which it has applied will establish a diversified portfolio capable of supporting long-term economic stability, operational resilience, and sustainable growth.

The mission of .REAL is to provide a namespace associated with the applied-for string. The .REAL gTLD is intended to serve a broad range of registrants and users, including individuals, businesses, organizations, communities, projects, and other entities that identify with, relate to, or wish to be associated with the concept represented by the applied-for string. The purpose of .REAL is to enable registrants to establish online identities using domain names that correspond to this concept. To achieve this purpose, Oyster Dream, LLC will make .REAL available for registration through registrars and other appropriate distribution channels; maintain a secure, stable, and reliable registry infrastructure; implement registration and operational policies that support the availability, security, and integrity of the namespace; and provide ongoing administration of the gTLD to enable registrants to register and use domain names within the namespace. The purpose of .REAL is sustainable over time because the applied-for string is broadly recognized and has broad applicability across a wide variety of contexts. As society, technology, and methods of communication evolve, organizations and individuals will continue to establish online identities associated with the applied-for string.