Bluesky wants users to stop renting their online names. The company just took a concrete step toward that goal. On Monday its chief executive Toni Schneider revealed the firm applied to ICANN for a new top-level domain: .bsky.

If approved, the change could shrink handles from the current @username.bsky.social format to something cleaner. Think sarahp.bsky instead. But don’t count on seeing it soon. The entire process stretches 18 to 24 months. At minimum.

The announcement landed quietly yet carries weight for anyone watching the social web fracture. Bluesky runs on the AT Protocol, an open system designed so identities travel between apps without permission from any single company. A dedicated domain suffix would anchor those identities deeper into the actual internet. Users could point their handle at a personal site they control outright.

Rose Wang, Bluesky’s chief operating officer, put the philosophy plainly. “Domains are a big part of the open web, as they allow users to control their own online identity,” she told 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.”

And. The company insists it will not sell or monetize these .bsky domains. That stance stands out. Bluesky has raised substantial funding. Many observers expected it would hunt for revenue through premium features or advertising. Giving away short, memorable web addresses for free signals commitment to the founding idea. Or at least a bet that ownership itself drives adoption.

ICANN plans to publish the full list of new domain applications tomorrow, October 7. Bluesky’s request sits among more than a thousand others. Approval is no sure thing. The organization reviews each for potential confusion, trademark conflicts and public interest. Even after that, technical integration remains.

Users already link existing domains to their Bluesky accounts today. The process sits in Settings under Advanced. Change my handle. Select “I have my own domain.” Then add a DNS TXT record that proves control. It works. Developers handle it in minutes. Most regular people find the steps intimidating. AndroGuider explained the gap clearly in a piece published late Tuesday: current verification relies on registrar portals, TXT records and propagation delays. Bluesky knows this feels too technical for mainstream use.

So the company plans partnerships with registrars for one-click purchases inside the app. It also wants simpler tools for renewals and transfers that won’t break a user’s identity across the AT Protocol network. Those improvements explain part of the long timeline. The rest comes from waiting on ICANN.

Short handles matter. On X, formerly Twitter, verified users pay for blue checks that once signaled status. Bluesky offers no such paid badges yet. A clean .bsky address could become the new marker of seriousness without a monthly fee. Early adopters already experiment with personal domains. Some treat their Bluesky profile as the start of a broader personal homepage. The .bsky suffix would make that link official.

But. Practical hurdles linger. Squatting remains a risk even with verification. Impersonation attacks could target high-profile names. Bluesky has not detailed anti-abuse measures for the new domain. Nor has it decided exactly who gets first pick once .bsky opens. Current .bsky.social users? Verified accounts? Anyone who asks?

The move also highlights tension inside the decentralized social world. Mastodon instances run on custom domains already. Threads ties identities to Instagram. Bluesky sits between them, promising portability while still hosting most users on its own servers. A native top-level domain could pull the platform closer to the open web ideal its protocol promotes.

Recent coverage echoes the same facts but adds context. The Verge noted the potential for profiles to evolve beyond simple bios and posts into fuller homepages. That shift fits the longer-term vision Schneider hinted at. Personal sites. Persistent identity. Less dependence on any one feed algorithm.

Critics point out the timeline feels glacial in an industry that ships updates weekly. Two years gives competitors time to copy the concept or launch rival identity systems. Yet domain approvals have never moved fast. ICANN’s process exists to prevent chaos in the global namespace. Bluesky appears willing to wait.

Meanwhile users need not sit idle. Anyone who owns a domain can link it right now. The verification flow, though technical, already ties an account to an address the user controls. That connection survives even if Bluesky itself changes dramatically. It’s the promise of the AT Protocol made tangible.

Schneider shared the news in a post that read more like a quiet heads-up than a product launch. No flashy graphics. No countdown clock. Just the application, the expected delay, and the underlying principle. The restraint fits the company’s tone so far. It grew by focusing on conversation quality rather than hype cycles.

Still, the stakes sit higher now. Bluesky passed three million users earlier this year and continues climbing. Each new feature that touches identity risks breaking the portability it touts. Get the domain system wrong and users could face broken links or lost verification across federated apps. Get it right and the platform sets a standard others must match.

Tomorrow’s ICANN publication will confirm the application in full public view. Observers will scan the list for competing bids or objections. Domain investors sometimes file comments during review periods. Trademark holders watch closely. The next year and a half will test whether Bluesky’s open-web rhetoric translates into concrete infrastructure.

For now the company keeps building. It refines the current custom domain experience. It talks with registrars. It prepares the technical ground for a day when your social handle doubles as your permanent web address. The wait feels long. The direction looks deliberate.

Ownership has always been the harder path. Platforms make money by keeping users inside walled gardens. Bluesky bets some people prefer keys to the gate. A .bsky domain won’t transform the internet overnight. It might, however, give a few million users one less thing to rent from someone else.