Heritage Auctions is gearing up for its third domain name auction, and the company announced the inventory for it this afternoon. In my opinion, the company will be selling its highest value domain name to date: Bitcoins.com. The auction will be held online on July 24, 2014.
According to the press release (which I included below the list of domain names for sale), “The URL Bitcoins.com will hit the auction block on July 24, 2014, as Part of Heritage Auctions’ Domain Names & Intellectual Property Auction, sold by Mark Karpeles, the controversial founder of the failed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, and is expected to bring more than $750,000.”
In May of this year, the Wall St. Journal reported that the sale of Bitcoins.com was possible. At that time, I speculated that the auction of Bitcoins.com and related trademarks could fetch 7 figures, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the domain name alone sells for 7 figures at auction. I have been told that the Heritage Auctions domain auction is for Bitcoins.com without any trademarks.
Some of the other exceptional domain names at auction include OklahomaCity.com, SEM.com, Cute.com, and Rides.com. Reserve prices for the auctions will be revealed one week prior to the auction. Bidders may place bids online prior to the July 24th auction.
Heritage Auctions July 24th inventory:
- Bitcoins.com
- OklahomaCity.com
- Rides.com (domain plus social media asset)
- SEM.com
- Cute.com
- Digital.com
- Copies.com
- Watermark.com
- SouthernCalifornia.com
- Moped.com
- Plank.com
- DEC.com
- GoNY.com
- Lithograph.com
- OTK.com
- ACJ.com
- Bristol.com
- Clothier.com
- PearlEarrings.com
- DFO.com
- IKR.com
- CorporateFinance.com
- CreditCounselors.com
- Cain.com
- SilverBuyers.com
- PlanetPartners.com
- Coin.tv
- FRR.com
- SFD.com
- OAH.com
- OYG.com
- DesignExperts.com
- SportsDaily.com
- AssetGuard.com
- EnergyPrices.com
- DarkCastle.com
- LongBall.com
- TYI.com
- DWI.org
- StockTalk.com
- SoundBar.com
- CustomProducts.com
- CouplesResorts.com
- PlaneBroker.com
- Bitcoin.club
- Downline.com
- Luxury.club
- ComicBooks.club
- CoinCollecting.club
- AmericanHistory.org
- WorldHistory.org
- CappuccinoMaker.com
- Baby.club
- GemMint.com
- CommercialArt.com
- AntiqueGallery.com
- UniqueCoins.com
- StockCompany.com
- GoATM.com
- FineGolf.com
- CoinSource.com
- MintCondition.com
- OriginalAutographs.com
- FootballCollector.com
- PawnYourGold.com
- GradedSportsCards.com
- NumisData.com
- NYCad.com
- GoldCoins.tv
- FineJewelry.tv
- RareTimepieces.com
- AdNYC.com
- EliteCollector.com
- BasketballCollector.com
- CoinStores.com
- DiamondMerchant.com
- ForeclosureSales.com
- BestSportsCards.com
- BuySellCards.com
- CoinVendor.com
- ShowcaseComics.com
- Summer.co
- AutographBroker.com
- DiscountVinyl.com
- CapCollection.com
DALLAS — The URL Bitcoins.com will hit the auction block on July 24, 2014, as Part of Heritage Auctions’ Domain Names & Intellectual Property Auction, sold by Mark Karpeles, the controversial founder of the failed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, and is expected to bring more than $750,000.
“We are hoping, with the sale of Bitcoins.com, to provide some relief to the people impacted by the Mt. Gox bankruptcy,” said Karpeles, “and will be putting at least half of the sale amount toward that purpose.”
“Bitcoins.com is absolutely the best remaining, and available name for this new market,” said Aron Meystedt, Founder and Director of the Domain Names & Intellectual Property category at Heritage Auctions. “Bitcoin.com, the singular version, is owned and used by Blockchain.info, the world’s most popular bitcoin wallet, and Bitcoinwallet.com itself is also already tied up. For the right investor this is a golden opportunity.”
The bitcoin payment system, an open payment network aimed at eliminating currency exchange fees and removing the need for intermediary banks, was created in 2009. It is mostly in the last 12 months, however, that it has gained mainstream notoriety, largely with the failure of Mt.Gox.com and the seizure of the nebulous Silk Road website, along with the subsequent liquidation of its Bitcoin assets. Bitcoins (plural) are the actual unit of exchange that has monetary value.
“The current market capitalization of all bitcoins in circulation is between $7 billion and $8 billion,” said Meystedt. “Daily, there are millions of dollars in transactions in Bitcoins. This auction offers the opportunity to capitalize on one of the most significant developments since the inception of the Internet.”
Bitcoins.com is being offered in the July 24, 2014 auction alongside more than 90 other premium domain names, including OklahomaCity.com, DEC.com (the fifth oldest domain name on the Internet, circa 1985), Rides.com, SEM.com, Digital.com, Cute.com and SouthernCalifornia.com.
If I were a premium domain seller, HA would be last option for me. Poor results, very high fees.
I don’t really agree.
IMO, Aron is working very hard to get deals done. If I was motivated to sell one of my prime names and had concerns about the auction potential, I would price it at a reserve that is comfortable to me.
Can you pay for it in Bitcoin?
Jack,
Nice thought. I’ve been asked this a few times today.
I need to ask the execs.
While I think it would be nice to accept Bitcoin, I am not sure if we would.
I have an account at CoinBase and I know it would be easy to setup.
So, as of now. Probably not. I’ll come back here and comment if I find out otherwise.
Appreciate the bitcoin domain coverage Elliot; looking forward to this auction. Agree with Aron’s statement “best remaining, and available name for this new market.” We still have DigitalCurrencies.com available.
I disagree with Mike completely. HA is possibly the best forum for auctioning this particular domain now. This specific domain being auctioned there could not only result in a huge boost for this new type of auction venue long waited for by some, but a huge boost to the entire domain industry now as well. Moreover, Bitcoin was just legalized in California, as in – California. That’s big news for Bitcoin. I also agree completely that seven figures is likely, not $750K. There could even be an active bidding war for this one.
I just read about this elsewhere and the first thing I did was book on over here to see how Elliot was covering it. Top post now, no surprise.
“We are hoping, with the sale of Bitcoins.com, to provide some relief to the people impacted by the Mt. Gox bankruptcy,” said Karpeles, “and will be putting at least half of the sale amount toward that purpose.”
They lost 500 million in Bitcoins and think they are doing something special by giving back half of the money from a potential 1 million dollar sale. They think they are going to provide some relief with less than 1 million dollars? What about the other 499 million? What a joke!
“They lost 500 million in Bitcoins … ”
They “lost” them … yeah, right … lol
It smells more like something different … http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/10/us-bitcoin-mtgox-bankruptcy-idUSBREA290WU20140310
Rides.com is a killer domain. Would be my top choice to acquire that gem.
Hey I’m not greedy… they can have Bitcoins.co for half that 😛
Are there any new updates on if and what these bitcoin domains sold for?