.bond Domains: From Brand Extension to Open Name
.bond entered the root zone on 30 October 2014, and the IANA record now names Shortdot SA as the sponsoring organisation. Its history is unusual: according to secondary sources the name began as a brand extension held by Bond University in Australia, changed hands in 2019 and opened to general registration on 19 November of that year. A turn of that kind is rare in this category.
The registry states plainly that there is no sector limit: the name is globally accessible and carries no industry restriction. Positioning rests on trust, strength and connection, which is why finance and consulting appear first. The second meaning of the word helps too — a bond is also a tie, so the name reads well on community and partnership projects. Test candidates with a domain name search.
.BOND Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Shortdot SA
- Root zone record 30 October 2014
- General registration 19 November 2019 (secondary source)
- History Began as a brand extension held by Bond University
- Sector restriction None, according to the registry
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .bond domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 10 servers
Related Domain Extensions
Registering the same name on more than one extension keeps someone else from taking your brand.
.bond Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$1.99 /year -
Transfer
$18.79 /year -
Renewal
$19.79 /year -
Restore
$184.90
Included With Every .bond Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.bond Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .bond domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .bond address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .bond domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .bond returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.bond Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.bond Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .bond domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 10 servers
.bond Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .bond Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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The registry defines no sector boundary, so use follows the meaning of the word. Because the emphasis falls on trust and continuity, finance, investment, insurance and consulting come to mind first. The sense of a bond as a tie also serves associations, communities and partnership projects. The rule: if the whole name read aloud explains your work, the ending fits; if it does not, a descriptive ending is safer.
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The extension was originally allocated as a brand ending. In that model the name is reserved for a single institution and registration never opens to outsiders. According to secondary sources the handover happened in 2019, and the name opened to general registration the same year. The practical consequence for you: because the ending opened late, short meaningful roots may have stayed free longer than expected — check your first choice before settling.
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No, the registry states there is no industry restriction. No licence, register entry or professional certificate is requested, and the ordering flow carries no extra approval step. Offering investment or financial services, on the other hand, requires permission in many countries; that obligation arises from the activity and has nothing to do with the domain. Read your registrar's agreement at checkout regardless.
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An encrypted connection and identity verification lead. On a site carrying client data, uploaded documents or account details, publishing without a certificate is indefensible; DNS signing and regular backups follow. To confirm the certificate actually serves the chain you expect, use an SSL checker, and handle the setup itself from the SSL certificate page.
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Yes, the extension is transferable. You remove the lock at your current registrar, collect the authorisation code and start the request at the new one; the name is expected not to have been registered or transferred in the previous 60 days. The site stays reachable throughout. After the move, it is worth confirming the contact details look right with a whois search.
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