.xyz domain lifecycle

.xyz launched in 2014 with aggressive low-pricing promotions and grew quickly to several million registrations. It became the de facto TLD for the 2017-2021 crypto/Web3 wave (Ethereum, ENS-related projects, NFT marketplaces).

Pricing is highly variable — promotional first-year pricing has gone as low as $1, while standard renewal is around $10-$15. The low entry price has drawn both legitimate use and significant spam.

The lifecycle is the standard ICANN gTLD model. Drop catching is less industrialised than for premium TLDs because of the lower per-name resale value.

Best fit: Projects that want a cheap or symbolic TLD. Heavily adopted by crypto/web3 projects.

• Aggressive promotional pricing has historically distorted registration patterns.
• High proportion of registrations from crypto/web3 projects.
• Premium tier system with named ranges (1.111B Class — 6+ digit numerics, etc.).

• Standard 80-day lifecycle.
• Manual drop registration usually works for non-premium names.
• Higher abuse rate than premium TLDs; check provenance carefully.

• .com lifecycleApproximately 80 days from expiry to drop
• .io lifecycleApproximately 80 days from expiry to drop
• .tech lifecycleApproximately 80 days from expiry to drop
• .online lifecycleApproximately 80 days from expiry to drop

• XYZ Registry