.privacy Intends to Officially Enter the ICANN Application Process

A privacy-first internet needs a trusted foundation. And now, .privacy is preparing to take the next step toward becoming globally recognized.

We’re excited to announce our official intent to submit .privacy into ICANN’s upcoming gTLD application round in 2026, in collaboration with Women in Web3 Privacy (WiW3P), Secret Network, and FLUIDEFI. Originally launched in 2024 as a Web3 domain, .privacy was built for those who champion user-controlled identity and believe individuals should be the ones to decide how their data is used and shared.

With this next step, .privacy becomes a leading candidate to represent a core value of the internet: privacy itself, across both the Web3 ecosystem and traditional DNS infrastructure.

If the application is approved, .privacy would become a fully recognized DNS top-level domain, joining legacy extensions like .com, .net, and .org. This upgrade would enable full compatibility with mainstream browsers such as Chrome, Safari, and Edge, along with support for standard email and other Web2-based applications.

At the same time, .privacy would retain the powerful onchain features that early adopters already rely on, including crypto payments, encrypted messaging, UD.me profiles, and onchain websites.

As a result, .privacy domains could operate seamlessly across both Web2 and Web3 environments, offering global reach while preserving Web3-native privacy tools. It’s a meaningful step toward a more private internet where individual control is built into the foundation.

The next generation of digital tools is putting control back in the hands of users, and .privacy is designed to be the digital identity layer for this movement.

From hosting encrypted communication channels to simplifying crypto transactions, .privacy domains allow users to decide what they share, how they share it, and with whom. They can be used to log into dApps, represent wallets, host onchain websites, and interact with a growing ecosystem of privacy-preserving applications.

By joining the ICANN process, .privacy could help bring this kind of privacy-first infrastructure into mainstream DNS adoption, empowering a broader audience of individuals, developers, and organizations to adopt discreet and user-controlled identities.

Women in Web3 Privacy (WiW3P), Secret Network, and FLUIDEFI are all supporting .privacy’s expansion through ICANN, bringing deep expertise and shared values to the domain’s evolution.

WiW3P is a recognized collective advancing education, inclusion, and privacy research across cryptographic and Web3 technologies. Their efforts include community empowerment, curated tools, and visibility frameworks that give individuals greater control over their digital identity. Secret Network brings years of experience in private smart contracts and privacy-preserving infrastructure, helping expand the use of confidential computation onchain. FLUIDEFI contributes robust DeFi analytics and real-time data management tools, with a focus on user protection, transparency, and accessible financial systems.

Together, these collaborators are strengthening the foundation of .privacy and helping ensure that its future remains aligned with the needs of users and developers worldwide.

The journey of .privacy underscores how onchain-first domains can evolve into globally accessible, standards-compliant infrastructure without compromising the values they were built on. For developers, advocates, communities, and companies around the world, .privacy offers a namespace that is both powerful and principled.

This next step marks a new phase in its evolution, rooted in privacy, control, and the pursuit of long-term alignment with user values.

Secure your .privacy domain today and take part in shaping the next era of the web.