Alan Dunn is a long-time domain investor and domain broker, and I trust his insights when it comes to the business of domain names. Take a look at Alan’s Twitter feed, and you will see he has become active in the NFT space. I have learned more about NFT projects from reading Alan’s Twitter feed than anywhere else.
Over the holiday weekend, Alan posted a Twitter thread explaining why his focus has shifted from domain names to NFTs for personal investments. Quite a few other domain investors I know have shifted some level of focus to NFTs, so I think seeing this perspective helps me understand what’s up:
Hiren Patel and Andrew Allemann inspired me to write this today. Some top reasons why I shifted some energy to the #NFT space. I still love domain names, still acquire/sell a bunch, but for personal investments, my focus has shifted tremendously to the digital art space. Why?
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
1/ Domains are boring. Killer domain names are amazing, especially one-word .com’s but they simply do not have the wider sex appeal of a Beeple or Bored Ape. Again, I love killer domains but at this point, I would rather own something more people want to talk about.
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
2/ Domain investors were born for this. For the last 20 years we all have been going through drop lists, looking for rarities (short .com’s etc), hunting marketplaces for domain name deals and more. All these skills automatically carry over to the digital art marketplace.
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
3/ Content. Again, domains are awesome but I rarely find much content of interest. Many people publish great stuff, such as @domainnamewire, @dninvesting, @GeorgeKirikos, @dotweekly and I truly appreciate this work. There are just not enough topics overall for me. I need more.
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
4/ Crypto. I am a big crypto advocate. ETH is amazing and the future of money is just getting started. I bought BTC many years ago but should have also attended the Miami conference when Chad asked me back in 2014. My biggest regret so far. You were right Chad!
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
5/ Community. I love people. I also love innovation. Unfortunately, the innovation piece is missing from the domain name industry imo. The people are amazing but I need both. NFTS have both. The domain industry seems to be mostly in a consolidation stage the last few years.
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
6/ Risk and Reward. I like betting on digital assets. Why not dive into another arena with a wider audience and possibly higher returns? I mean, most domains have the same risk, and most have a lower chance of a higher reward. Economically, a jump to NFTS was a no-brainer for me.
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
7/ Fun. I want fun in my life, even if it means less money. Life is too short. I also want to change the world a little. If that means taking a chance, buying art and supporting an artist then it’s a whole lot more rewarding than paying annual renewal tax to Verisign and ICANN.
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
At the end of the day, we all have our own reasons for investing. A wise person said to me years ago on another topic “Why can’t you do both”. That is where I am today. Not financial advice. All of this may go to zero or moon. No one knows for sure, I just want to be on the ride.
— Alan Dunn 🍌🛸 🇨🇦 (@alangdunn) July 3, 2021
I haven’t bought a single NFT nor have I owned any cryptocurrency for that matter either. I like and display art at my home, but I can’t get into the digital art for some reason. I appreciate it and think some projects (like Bored apes) look unique and fun, but I am not moved from observer to owner.
My knowledge-base and expertise is limited to domain names. While I have enough dry powder, I don’t feel comfortable using it on alternative investments like these. I have enough traditional investment alternatives to keep me diversified.
I am still trying to understand how nfts benefit the businesses.
I’m still trying to understand how a pixelated image of a bored ape can have any value.
Actually I figured it out: create a worthless digital item and then market it as being rare and valuable, then pass it off to someone for a good chunk of money. It sounds very much like the fiat currency fraud and the crypto currency fraud.
People en masse are waking up to the frauds of the global money changers with fiat currency, and they are now desperate to find a new but similar con. Crypto has not been as successful and widely taken up as they’d hoped, so they’ve moved on to the next fad of NFTs. They are all just intrinsically worthless tokens created for nothing.
nfts are an interesting idea but what value is there in selling generated ape pictures? give me something worthwhile and maybe it will be interesting.
Well he does own the most valuable pickle NFT in the World
Ha ha. Long Pickles! Not Financial advise.
As someone who experienced the Warhol signed and numbered prints business in the late 80’s to mid 90’s, I understood the value of having art you could display, gain appreciation financially over the years, and then be able to sell at Sotheby’s or Christies and make a profit. Some people have told me this is similar; I do not agree. I’ve read extensively about it, and still am not interested. Warhols were a limited inventory; obviously he passed away and there would be no more original paintings or signed and numbered prints. NFT’s are presently being generated every day, and I don’t see the value.
Regarding crypto, I have a very small account established for when someone desires to buy a domain name using crypto, and I can accommodate them. Was I an early adaptor? No.
I totally respect Alan, and his comments. However, at any given time there are probably 200 out of my 700+++ domain name inventory that I could develop and turn into a profitable business within a few months time. This to me is the biggest difference in the comparisons; investment versus development and profits.
I have several close friends that are big crypto investors; I also have close friends that you’d think would have been crypto and NFT investors because of their success and tech backgrounds, that have totally ignored both opportunities.
I am neutral; am staying the course and path on my own strategies….and I don’t regret not jumping in when BTC was $7. I wish the best for everyone invested in both crypto and NFT’s.
Bingo, Fred. Bingo.
Too much ponzi, not enough real business.
“and I don’t regret not jumping in when BTC was $7.”
Sure…….
“ I haven’t bought a single NFT nor have I owned any cryptocurrency for that matter either.”
I’m right there with you Elliot. I get the fact that people want to have something new and exciting. I’m still with my first wife after 30 years. So for those wanting something new and exciting….have fun.
huh…why stop at Bored Ape, i bet the next big thing is big TITs, dicks, heads, etc etc etc…on and on like the new GTLds….
Mila Kunis is involved with an NFT called “Stoner Cats”..
I’m not paying good money for a virtual token of Mila Kunis’ tits. I’ll only have the real thing.
I understand the lure of something that’s new and exciting. It’s anyone’s business how they choose to spend their time.
But whether domain investing is boring is a matter of opinion. I still marvel at the fact that every domain name presents an opportunity for a growing business. I always end up learning about aspects of services and industries that I’d previously never given a second thought to when I’m researching names. I like the descent down the rabbit hole of information, and trying to see things from the business’s perspective.
Can someone launch a business from a single ape?
There seems to be a lot of overlap with NFTs – provenance, uniqueness, the thrill of the chase – but I guess I need to read more about them, because most of the apes look the same to me. And not all of it is original work (there have been artists caught reusing backgrounds). It also sounds like there’s an energy consumption problem there. I’m a “never say never” person, so I don’t own any right now, but I can see how the pull of the ape-and-pickle-related community is strong enough to pique one’s curiosity.
“Domains are boring.” That wasn’t meant to apply to all domains. Great domain names (as I also said) are awesome. One words, two-words, great phrases etc. The rabbit hole of information in domains is even often better than the domains.
The NFT space is also like this. Wallets are public and great tools like Nansen.ai exist for more in-depth exploration.
My point is that 95% of domains are poor extensions, bad combinations, typos etc. Many people in this space who have been around awhile have also branched out to different areas with time. Probably true with a lot of industries. Yes, I agree with you that not all domains are boring. I love the great ones.
I agree that 95% of domains or more are bad. The NFT space will be exactly the same but near 98%-99% will be junk same as domains. Picking the winner will be tough but the winners will be 100x and more. NFT,s with utility or some type of backing with a “security token” in which we own btw will have better chance of making it. Regardless to discount all this would be foolish. Once people figure out NFT,s will not be just art but the tokenization of dozens of things, movies, music, sport teams, admissions, tickets etc.
I think we are at AOL stage in NFT space at this point.
Me too, buying gaming NFT. This space is tiny, a few dominate games, still under 1m players each. Most games have around 10k or less players. Assets usually mkt cap under $1m.
I have been buying and playing them for up to a year now. Of the 6 I focus on, every one made money. I often make 100% ROI within 200 days, sometimes as little as 100 days. Then I STILL own the assets, which often appreciate up to 100% within that time too!
Sometimes, it only takes a single ‘whale’ with about $10k to push asset values up 30% in one week, and that’s happened to me a lot.
It’s really nice playing a few of these games. They are real simple, hardly even games. Mostly like yield farming, but better ones coming out. There are systems for ‘renting’ your assets and all kinds of things.
I see this turning into a multi-trillion niche within 10 years. Everyone will be playing blockchain games. You own your assets, there is so much to say about it.
Agree, NFT’s have the best value use in gaming.
Domain industry way behind in innovation which contributes to boring
However,
Domains are NFT’s, We should join the wave
Cheers
maybe it is a generation thing (with the exception of a few)?
I would buy crypto or crypto domains before I would buy NFT’s. NFT’s are a fad IMO. Average person will never own a NFT.
I have no interest in NFT-related domains either. I don’t see a future for them.