After I finished writing How to Get Your Own Top-Level Domain, my brother became interested in applying for new gTLDs himself. That eventually led to the formation of TLD1 LLC, an applicant in ICANN’s 2026 round, where I serve as an advisor. Now that the application window has closed, we are dealing with the same question every other applicant is dealing with: should we continue to keep our strings secret until ICANN’s Reveal Day, or should we reveal them now?

TLD1 decided to reveal its strings. You can see them at TLD1.llc. Going through that decision caused me to think more carefully about why applicants are still keeping their strings confidential in the first place, and whether the reasoning that made secrecy so important before August 12 still applies today.

Before the application deadline, secrecy clearly had value. If another potential applicant learned that you intended to apply for a particular string, there was still time for that party to file a competing application. Most of us therefore had good reason to keep our plans confidential. But that particular risk ended when the application window closed. Nobody can see your string today and decide to submit a competing application tomorrow. The applications are in and, for practical purposes, the field is set.

That changes the equation considerably. My view is that applicants should now reconsider whether secrecy is still helping them. In many cases, I think it may be doing the opposite.

Information Is Worth More Today Than It Will Be Later

The most important reason to consider revealing now has very little to do with marketing or publicity. It has to do with money.

If another applicant has applied for the same string you have, when would you rather know? Today, when the process is still at its earliest stage, or weeks and months from now after more money has been committed and more decisions have become difficult to reverse?

The economics matter because the value of information changes as the process moves forward. ICANN’s evaluation fee is $227,000 per application. ICANN recently clarified that payment must be received by the later of August 19 or seven days after the invoice was sent. That means some applicants are presently in an unusually important period in which material information about a string could affect whether they complete payment on an application at all. I want to be careful with that point. I am not suggesting that an applicant simply fail to pay because someone tells them they may have competition. An unpaid application generally will not proceed, and anyone considering a decision like that should confirm the consequences with ICANN and qualified counsel. But from a business standpoint, it is difficult to argue that information received before a $227,000 payment has less value than the same information received afterward.

Once the application fee has been paid, the refund schedule begins working against the applicant. During the first refund period, ICANN provides a $147,500 refund, meaning that withdrawing has effectively cost the applicant roughly $79,500. Later, the refund drops to $79,500, which means the net cost of walking away rises to approximately $147,500. Later still, the refund falls to $45,400, and after the Registry Agreement is signed, there is no application-fee refund.

The point is simple. The same information can cost much more to act on later than it costs to act on today. That is why I have difficulty understanding the instinct to remain voluntarily blind until Reveal Day unless there is a specific strategic reason for doing so.

This Was Different in 2012

I was deeply involved in the 2012 round, and I do not remember applicants spending much time debating whether they should reveal their strings early. I recently went back and checked the dates because my own memory of that period was not entirely accurate.

The final application window closed on May 30, 2012, after the TAS problems and extension. ICANN held Reveal Day on June 13. That was exactly two weeks later.

There simply was not much of a period to work with. We had also spent months guarding our application lists, so keeping them secret for another two weeks probably felt natural. In many cases, secrecy after the closing date was less a carefully considered strategy than a continuation of what everyone had already been doing.

The 2026 round is different. ICANN has said that the administrative check is expected to take approximately eight weeks, and the Applicant Guidebook provides that Reveal Day should occur no later than nine weeks after the close of the application period, absent extraordinary circumstances. That gives applicants a potentially significant period between submission and public disclosure.

I do not think applicants should look at those weeks as dead time.

What Are You Protecting Now?

This is really the question I would ask every applicant. Before August 12, keeping your string confidential protected you against another party seeing your idea and filing against you. What does secrecy protect you against now? There may be good answers in individual cases. A company may have internal communications reasons for remaining confidential. An applicant may not want to signal how important a string is to them. Some applicants may be concerned about giving critics, governments, communities or other interested parties additional time to focus on an application. Those are legitimate considerations.

But for many ordinary, generic applications, I am not sure there is a compelling reason to continue hiding the string simply because that is what we have all been doing for the last several months.

Meanwhile, there is a very obvious disadvantage to remaining quiet: you may have no idea whether somebody else has filed for the same string.

If there is another applicant, I would want to know that as early as possible. I would want to know who they are, understand what they may be trying to accomplish, study my own alternatives and get professional advice before the entire application universe becomes public at once.

Even if that information does not ultimately change the decision, knowing earlier is better than knowing later.

Revealing Does Not Necessarily Mean Announcing to the Entire World

Publicly announcing a string is one option, and I think more applicants should consider it. It is not, however, the only way to obtain useful information during this period.

EarlyWarning.report was created to help applicants identify possible overlap before ICANN’s formal Reveal Day. Before the application deadline, its String Interest Reports were already producing actual changes in applicant behavior. One example involved Ray King’s group and Dynadot, which discovered significant overlap in their prospective applications and ultimately formed a joint applicant entity called Oinkadot rather than blindly filing against each other. EarlyWarning.report also reported other instances in which prospective applicants changed their lists after learning that someone else was interested in the same string.

Those pre-application decisions are obviously no longer available because the filing deadline has passed, but the basic principle remains important: information changes decisions, and early information generally makes those decisions less expensive.

EarlyWarning.report’s Contention Avoidance Reports, or CARs, continue during this post-application period. The service can identify verified applicants who have submitted for an identical string and who are also participating in the system. It does not provide a complete view of the application universe, and applicants should not interpret the absence of a match as proof that they are uncontested. But if a CAR tells you that another verified applicant has filed for your exact string, that is useful information you otherwise might not receive until Reveal Day.

I think applicants should consider tools like this in a practical way. You do not need to make a public announcement if you are not ready to do so. But if there is a reasonable way to learn more about the competitive landscape while the information is still valuable, I think it deserves serious consideration.

Be Careful With What You Do With the Information

There is an important rules issue here, and applicants need to understand it.

The 2026 Applicant Guidebook is materially different from the 2012 rules when it comes to contention resolution. Section 5.2.3 contains restrictions relating to private contention resolution, including private auctions, joint ventures and other arrangements designed to resolve contention privately. The Guidebook also provides that a specific prohibition on communications among applicants in the same contention set begins on Reveal Day and continues through the relevant stages of the process.

I do not want to interpret those provisions more aggressively than necessary, and applicants should not either. Anyone considering negotiations, compensation, an auction arrangement, a withdrawal agreement or any other action involving a potentially competing applicant should review the current Guidebook carefully and obtain competent legal advice before proceeding.

My point is narrower than that. Before Reveal Day, there is an unusual period in which applicants can still gather information about what may be coming. I think it makes sense to use that period intelligently while remaining careful about what the rules permit applicants to do with the information they obtain.

Reveal Day Changes the Environment

Once Reveal Day occurs, ICANN will publish the applications, the applicants and the initial contention landscape. At that point, everybody gets essentially the same information at the same time, and the informational advantage of learning earlier disappears.

The process also begins moving more quickly toward decisions that carry real consequences. Applicants will have a limited period to deal with replacement-string decisions where applicable. Contention sets will eventually become fixed. Evaluations, objections and contention-resolution procedures will proceed, and the cost of changing course generally rises as the application moves further through the system.

That is why I think applicants should look at the present period differently. We are not merely waiting for ICANN to publish a list. We are sitting in a window in which information may still materially affect the cost of the decisions ahead.

There Are Other Benefits, But They Are Secondary

There is also a marketing argument for revealing early. An applicant announcing a string today has an opportunity to tell its own story. On Reveal Day, the same application may be one item among thousands. Early disclosure may also make it easier to begin conversations with registrars, partners, communities and potential registrants.

Those benefits are real, but they are not the main reason I am writing this. The primary reason is financial. If information about contention, competition or the strength of your own application can affect what you do next, the time when that information is most valuable is probably now, before additional money is committed and before the refund schedule makes changing course more expensive.

Where I Come Out

If I were advising an applicant today, I would ask a simple question: what are you gaining by waiting for ICANN to tell the world something that you already know?

If you have a good strategic reason to remain confidential, then by all means remain confidential. But I would make sure that secrecy is an intentional decision rather than a habit carried forward from the application period.

For months, applicants had a very good reason to keep their strings secret. That reason largely disappeared when the application window closed on August 12.

If you are comfortable revealing publicly, I think it is worth considering. If you are not, I would at least consider whether a confidential service such as EarlyWarning.report can provide useful information before Reveal Day.

You may discover another applicant on your string. You may not. Either way, I would rather know as much as reasonably possible while the information can still help me make better and potentially less expensive decisions.

In 2012, we had only two weeks between the final close of the application window and Reveal Day. This time we may have as many as nine. I think applicants should use them.

Full disclosure: I work for it.com Domains, an ICANN-evaluated Registry Service Provider, advise new gTLD applicants, and serve as an advisor to TLD1 LLC, a 2026-round applicant. TLD1 has publicly disclosed its applied-for strings at TLD1.llc. My involvement with TLD1 and our own decision to reveal are part of what prompted me to write this article.

This article reflects my personal views and is intended as industry commentary, not legal, financial or investment advice. The 2026 Applicant Guidebook contains new and significant provisions concerning applicant communications and private contention resolution. Applicants should review the current Guidebook carefully and consult qualified counsel before communicating with a potentially contending applicant, entering into any arrangement involving an application, or making a decision concerning payment or withdrawal. ICANN program dates, payment guidance, refund amounts and procedures can change, so applicants should confirm current requirements directly with ICANN before acting.