The top-level domain (TLD) “CAPITALONE” refers to a specific generic top-level domain (gTLD) that is owned and managed by Capital One Financial Corporation. A gTLD is one of the categories of top-level domains maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – a function of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
The “CAPITALONE” TLD is a brand TLD, or “brand gTLD”. This is an innovative type of TLD that stems from ICANN’s New gTLD Program initiated in 2012. Instead of utilizing traditional, generic TLDs like .com, .net, or .org, many companies have applied for their own custom, brand-specific TLDs. This provides businesses with new branding opportunities and allows them to create a completely controlled, secure, and trusted space on the web. Other examples of such brand TLDs include .google, .amazon, .bmw, and .nike.
As per ICANN’s Registry Agreement, all brand TLDs are required to regularly submit updated information for the TLD Startup Information page on the ICANN website. There, one can find specific details about the lifecycle phase of the TLD and its key dates. In the case of .CAPITALONE, it is listed as “Eligible for Activation”, which means it has successfully passed the initial implementation phase and is ready to allocate second-level domains (those to the left of the TLD, like www.example.capitalone).
However, despite this, as of now, Capital One Financial Corp. has not activated the .CAPITALONE TLD for public use. A search through ICANN’s WHOIS Lookup database, which provides public access to data on registered domain names, shows that no second-level .CAPITALONE domains are currently active. Understandably, the precise manner in which a company utilizes its brand TLD is strategically decided based upon its digital marketing and cybersecurity plans.
Regarding the source of this knowledge, information about TLDs is primarily derived directly from ICANN’s official website and related resources, which are recognized as reliable and authoritative in this domain. This includes ICANN’s New gTLD Program webpage, the Registry Agreement webpage, and the WHOIS Lookup database. Additionally, Internet Live Stats provides current and historical data about the total number of websites and gTLDs, further illustrating the importance and popularity of such domain names amongst businesses today.
Overall, while Capital One does own the .CAPITALONE TLD, they have not yet begun to issue second-level domains for public use. This modern approach to internet domain naming offers a lot of potential benefits for businesses, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see more usage of it in the future.
