.XYZ is All That and then Some

You may have noticed lately that Namecheap’s been promoting .xyz domain registrations quite a bit. And while we are proud to be certified retail partners with all our domain providers, .xyz has turned out to be something special.

Since it was publicly introduced in June of 2014, .xyz has made a big splash, reporting 1.5 million registrations in just over a year. And last August, Google announced abc.xyz as the domain for its new holding company, Alphabet. A move that sparked even more interest in the fledgling domain throughout the industry, putting it on track to become a major player in the gTLD sales market.

“XYZ’s mission has always been to offer the next generation of Internet users a way to connect with people all over the world using short, memorable, and global domains. This has really resonated with young adults, new businesses, and emerging internet markets who put flexibility and affordability first,” said Shayan Rostam, .xyz’s Global Director of Registry Operations. “As a way to give back to our supporters, we like to showcase some of our favorite sites every week in our #WebsiteWednesday posts and at www.gen.xyz/live. Several Namecheap customers have already been featured, and we hope more will be submitted by tweeting us @XYZ!”
.xyz has become the world’s most popular new domain for 2 years and counting:

• 159 – Number of registrars who have sold a .xyz domain
• 227 – Countries where .xyz is registered
• 81% – Countries on nTLDstats where .xyz is a top 5 gTLD
• 877k – Number of active .xyz sites
• 2.239 – Number of .xyz sites in Alexa 1

Bolstered by Google’s faith in the product, other major brands and companies began to take notice, creating a ripple effect and boosting .xyz’s popularity and credibility even more over the next several months. Check out some of our favorites below:

Starship.xyz – Cofounders of Skype

Fathom.xyz – Rx Networks

Feed.xyz – Feed Communications

Milk.xyz – Milk Agency

But it hasn’t simply been word-of-mouth that has gained .xyz such widespread interest. According to founder Daniel Negari, the company has gone to great lengths to promote .xyz in a positive light, often aligning the domain with progressive free-speech and anti-censorship causes.

“It’s really impressive to see all of the innovative ways .xyz is being leveraged from both a branding and utilization standpoint in just the 2 years we have been available,” said Negari. “For example, Fathom.xyz has created a unified brand across all of their platforms by also using ‘FathomXYZ’ as their social media handles on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And individuals like Raheel.xyz (a Namecheap customer) are establishing their names as brands by doing the same thing.”

Additionally, .xyz is working to increase domain security, offering access to DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and striving to make it easier for users to protect their sites from fraud, data theft, and phishing.

Of course, we here at Namecheap are big fans of the Next Big Thing, especially when that thing aligns so well with our own core values as a company. This is why we’re excited to be offering a terrific deal on registrations and renewals of all .xyz domains purchased through us. If you renew your .xyz domain anytime before it expires, save 20% on renewal for the duration of your renewal period. So if you want to renew for 1, 3, or 5 years,  you get 20% off your renewal fee for the duration. Want to buy a new .xyz domain? Get one now for just 88 CENTS. Yep, for less than a buck, you can get on board with one of the hottest domains out there.

Sources: http://info.hubspider.com/blog/xyz-future-domain
http://www.eweek.com/cloud/alphabet-fuels-.xyz-domain-name-growth.html.