Bluesky applies for .bsky top-level domain to turn handles into web addresses

Bluesky applies for a .bsky domain suffix

Bluesky has applied to operate .bsky as a top-level domain, the same class of internet suffix as .com or .org. According to TechCrunch, CEO Toni Schneider disclosed the application on Monday, saying that approval would let users compress long social handles into short, clean domain names — a handle like @sarahp.bsky.social could one day become simply sarahp.bsky.

From profile page to personal home page

Beyond tidier addresses, TechCrunch reports the change could give Bluesky room to rethink what a user profile is. Instead of a page that mainly holds a bio and a stream of posts, a .bsky address could underpin a fuller personal home page that anchors someone's presence online.

Bluesky already allows users to attach a custom domain as their handle, but that requires actually owning one. A .bsky suffix would extend domain-based identity to ordinary users, and the company says it does not intend to charge for the names.

An 18-to-24-month wait at ICANN

Nothing is approved yet. ICANN, the nonprofit that oversees the internet's domain name system, is due to publish the latest round of applications for new top-level domains on October 7, 2026, and Bluesky's request will be in that batch, Schneider said. He added that the full process will take 18 to 24 months to complete, so working .bsky addresses remain well over a year away.

Bluesky told TechCrunch it has not finalized how .bsky domains would be requested, registered or distributed.

Passing on a revenue stream

The company also said it has no plans to sell or monetize the domains. That is a deliberate pass on a business: domain registration can be profitable, and TechCrunch notes it could have served as a revenue stream for a startup that has raised significant funding while not yet generating ad revenue. Bluesky instead frames the decision as a matter of principle tied to its open-web positioning.

“Domains are a big part of the open web, as they allow users to control their own online identity,” COO Rose Wang said in a comment shared with TechCrunch. “Bluesky was built on the belief that you should own your presence online, not rent it from a platform that can take it away.”

Why it matters

The move pushes Bluesky's identity argument to its logical conclusion. The network has marketed itself on the idea that your handle is something you own rather than rent from a platform, and handing every user an actual domain name — not a username stored in one company's database — makes that claim literal.

If profiles grow into personal home pages as a result, Bluesky starts competing less with individual social apps and more with the underlying infrastructure of the open web, where an address doubles as both a social identity and a place to publish. The caveats are real: ICANN may not approve the application, the timeline stretches up to two years, and Bluesky has not decided how names will be allocated. But if it lands, “your social handle is your web domain” would be a differentiator that closed platforms — where identity is locked to a single company — cannot easily copy.