June saw a notable spike in registrations across several new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), including .WATCH, .YACHTS, .AUTOS, .IRISH, .BOATS, and .QPON. Growth rates in these zones ranged from 50% to 73% compared to zone file data from the end of May. While such figures might appear encouraging at first glance, they provide little cause for optimism.
In most cases, sharp increases in domain registrations follow promotional campaigns or significant price reductions. Unfortunately, these incentives often attract malicious actors who exploit them for automated bulk registrations. A telling example is the .AUTOS domain, overseen by the .XYZ registry, where one-year registrations were priced under $2 in June. During that month alone, registrations surged by over 51,000. However, a quick review reveals that the vast majority of these are meaningless, machine-generated strings like yqtsfg.autos, rgwydp.autos, or l2xnnu7.autos that cannot be remembered or pronounced. A similar pattern can be seen with the .YACHTS domain. According to Domain Incite, out of 33,620 names registered in June, 27,335 consisted entirely of random numerical sequences.
Clearly, nobody would ever decide to register domains like these – they’re the product of bots programmed for volume, not value. Abusers plan to use them for phishing schemes, spam campaigns, malware distribution, and other forms of cybercrime. While it’s true that automated domain registration can sometimes serve benign or research-related purposes, these cases are the exception, not the rule.
Recently, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) urged ICANN to develop mechanisms to curb large-scale automated registrations. The June registration data only emphaizes the urgency of such measures.
