I just received word that the Bitcoins.com auction at Heritage Auctions scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled reportedly due to the legal proceeding involving Mt. Gox. Coindesk has the full story sharing this news.
I would think this news must be upsetting to Heritage Auctions. The company has spent quite a bit of time (and presumably money) promoting the auction, and I believe the Bitcoins.com domain name is/was the marquee domain name up for sale. I reached out to Aron Meystedt, Director of the Intellectual Property Department at Heritage Auctions, and he said that he could not comment on the situation.
All does not appear to be lost for HA though. According to Meystedt, “Once the legal issues are resolved we will attempt to sell this domain name privately.” When I learn about the Bitcoins.com auction in the future, I will keep you posted.
The rest of the auction is going ahead, as planned tomorrow at 1pm Central time. Digital.com has met its reserve at $200,000. You can see the full list of domain names coming up at auction on HA.com.
Too bad re: Bitcoins.com… As a (more cost effective) alternative for those who are focused on the Bitcoin space, I’d be delinquent if I didn’t point out that Bitcoin.club is still in the Heritage Auction tomorrow. 🙂
– Jeff Sass, .CLUB Domains
I feel this is a sad day for the industry, so I’m definitely disappointed by the loss of this one from the auctions. I felt this one domain alone had the potential to launch a bit of an all-around renaissance in people’s awareness, recognition and desire regarding domain assets in general. Therefore I’m also disappointed to hear that even if it goes back on the market it would be the subject of attempts at a private sale instead of auction, and it wouldn’t surprise me that even if that happens there would be an NDA as well.
God willing, perhaps another means may occur for this kind of renaissance I’m talking about, however…