The Booth brothers, Andy Booth and James Booth, have done incredibly well selling domain names. They are among the most successful domain investors I have met and know. They are high risk and high reward investors, and this extends beyond the domain name investing business.
Andy and James somewhat famously acquired a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT for $1.3 million worth of ETH cryptocurrency. There was a great deal of discussion when I wrote about their purchase.
Earlier today, Andy and James sold their ape NFT for 740 ETH. The sale was reported by a Twitter account that tracks the sale of BAYC ape NFTs:
Bored Ape #3749 was purchased for 740.0 ETH
https://t.co/2cGEDKeL5u— boredapebot (@boredapebot) September 6, 2021
At today’s exchange rate, that is more than $2.9 million USD worth of ETH. That’s $1.6 million in profit before considering the OpenSea commission fees and ETH “gas” costs. I was told the profit is approximately $1.5 million USD.
Beyond following domain industry colleagues on Twitter and seeing their NFT sales activity, I’m on the outside of the NFT space. The risk reward dynamics are up my alley but cryptocurrency remains something I observe rather than something in which I participate. There’s definitely some FOMO but I also don’t want to change my focus from domain names.
Regardless of what you think about the NFT space right now, this is an incredible flip in less than a month.
Not saying this about booths but most of big sales are money laundering, wash trading, such as the following
1. Friend A buys asset for 5k
2. “Sell” to friend B for 500k
3. Friend B sells to Friend C for 1M
4. “It’s going to the moon” -Twitter
5. C sells worthless asset to FOMO individual believing the hype for 1.5M
6. A,B,C split profit.
xD so true
I’m stunned.
If you are that messed up about the whole thing Kenny then perhaps it is best to just buy some NFT’s?
Exactly ! lol to the sucker who buys it for $1.5m
This shows how naive both of you are.
Kenny: It Shows in plain site that The Sandbox, one of the largest metaverses in the world bought it. They have tons of cash or ETH to spend. That’s the difference between domains and blockchain. Everything is trackable.
Keth: You can’t even get the prices right. But the buyer paid 2.6 million and it was a major company. That so called sucker is one of the fastest growing online companies in the world.
Domain investors have a bad name to much of the outside world because they think we squat on their names. Please don’t make them think we are idiots as well
Shane I been in crypto since 2012, I know all about Blockchain. Most of the big sales are washtrading, money laundering, tax evasion. Don’t be naive, sounds like your new. Good luck either way.
A major company bought it, sure but that ETH they paid for it probably cost them next to nothing in reality since they most likely acquired it long ago. That is the thing with crypto, those who bought it when it was low value can spend it without feeling it since it shot up in price since they did.
Triggered much Shane boy LMAO.
I know the industry, bought BTC in 2012 made lot’s of money. I know blockchain, you need to understand wash trading and example I just gave. I know the game of NFT. You are what we call dumb money, your are getting played bro. Have fun staying poor.
The buyer was SANDBOX, google it clowns
Google “Money Laundering” and “Wash Trading” Have fun staying poor moron.
Congrats Booth Bros. Well done!
what’s up with all the hate in the comments… toxic
In the example above:
Who cares if they sold it to sandbox.
Big boys know big boys.
Booth and sandbox are insider friends.
Friend C = Sandbox
C will sell worthless asset to FOMO individual believing the hype.
A,B,C will split profit.
Simple!!!
Sad to see the comments only focus on the negative…. Anyhow. Congrats to the Booth Bros that’s a big sale.
I’m watching the space, not a investor, but it’s clear alot of people have taken money off the table and are playing purely with the houses money at this point which is great to see.
Does anyone know what made this ape stand out? Are these high value ones driven mostly by how rare the traits are?
Would be interesting to hear from the guys what made them sell for this number? What made them hold till this number?
All that good interesting stuff! Forgot the negative comments and learn from the guys out there crushing it.
Can’t agree more Bill. It’s sad to see so many negativity in the comment section. Why can’t we celebrate successes like these like we do when a domain name is sold for a great price? James and Andy took the risk and they earn the reward. This particular ape was able to fetch such a high price because it’s traits are rare. There are 10k bored apes but only a small number has a golden fur and a small number has the laser-eyes. This ape has both, making it one of the rarest apes, hence the price.
You can do a lot with a domain. With a bored ape..not too sure what you can do besides resell it. I’d sooner lose money than participate in such a ridiculous thing. NFT should be use for real art at least, not auto generated cartoons.
I was gonna buy one with golden fur and laser eyes, but it turned out to be a photo of ellen degeneres.
Initially, where the money coming from …that puts into ETH?
Who sets the value of the ETH?
and what happens if everyone cashes out their ETH?
“Everything is trackable”
Is there a website that publishes the name of the sellers and buyers and how much they own?
So the IRS knows who the buyers and sellers are….so they come after them for paying taxes
Do Americans believe that the IRS collects taxes from non US citizens living outside the US? Do you realize that there are tax jurisdictions that have either low or zero tax rates on income and capital gains?
You should stop reporting NFT sales. You are making a bunch of people jealous as fuck rofl. Or please continue reporting. It is fun to watch all them burn. SO much negativity. SO much burn. And all the while the opportunity was Right there for the taking for everyone
@lambo
Jealous… HeHe… you bet your bottom dollars. I know I’m jealous seeing such a nice payday.
But you know what they say about jealousy…
The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents.
I don’t understand it, but I’m sure glad that everyone got what they wanted out of it. Best of luck in all your ventures, Booth Brothers! Some we win, some we lose, but hopefully, the W’s always outpace those L’s. My loss not knowing what’s going on in this space, but I’m satisfied with the direction I’m still going.
Congrats Andy and James, really happy for you!
Phenoms in domaining and now NFT, what’s next?
For those who do not know very well the NFT industry, a friend last week suggested me a site to check out last sales and more:
https://cryptoslam.io/
I am not an expert but it looks great resource and this sale is actually at top!
They are British citizens living in the middle east…so no US income tax
Can you use Eth to buy big mac or you have to cash out to get real money?
Or it is still virtual money?
“While you may call them cartoons, these cartoons are being purchased by large corporations. Arizona Iced Tea also bought an ape for advertising. With all assets we hope that large pockets want them. Bored Apes are being sought by large pockets. Especially the more rare. They are iconic, unique and make for good advertising.”
Does the writer of that blog knows what the f he is writing about or he is paid to be a mouthpiece.
If it takes an image of an ape to do an advertising, then what the hell are graphic designers for?
Should Nike ,Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing change their logos to Apes?
Show me a real check of someone cashing out their ETH for the real cash….show me pictures of the cash please…
First of all, congratulations to the Booth Brothers. Sincerely. However I cannot imagine paying this amount for a digital image when the same money would buy NewYork.com. The revenue that one could make in the coming years on NewYork.com and the appreciating value of the site would dwarf any future valuation of this NFT.
Oh man, forget about geos, you are putting lipstick on a pig constantly trying to talk those up.
I’m over domain investment blogs and podcasts hyping NFTs, crypto, etc. If I wanted the latest on apes and shitcoins, I’d seek it out. What’s next, domainer stock picks?
I’m hyping NFTs? I’ve never bought or sold a single one. I have no skin in the NFT or cryptocurrency games whatsoever.
It’s newsworthy that domain investors made 7 figures on a NFT flip in less than a month.
NFT = Ponzi
i hope NFTALTART goes to the moon. A few NFT artist friends have done well, and glad to see investors are making bank.
I really feel this is a viable market, considering the millions made via crypto, real estate, stocks by the top 5% bracket over the last two years.
Collectibles, including hall of fame or future hall of fame players on sports cards, are selling for fortunes.
Are we playing musical chairs and when the music stops, the balloons go pop?
Maybe, but the music plays on
The comments from people on this blog post are shocking and a perfect precursor of what is to come…
The future will be far more divided than today, and ironically, the primary reason for this is the ultra left liberal morons who thinking they are pushing an equality agenda!!! Too stupid to realize they are just pawns of the propaganda. They are literally just eating their own rat poison at the behest of the global central banks!
In the future there will be those who own digital assets and have varying degrees of autonomy and individual sovereignty in the World thanks to cryptography (the new gun powder) and there will be those who do not…they, like many of the fuck wads commenting on this blog, will be slaves to governments, corporations, institutions and central banks (NO, they are not one in the same, the US Federal Reserve Bank is a private organization owned by and controlled by 100% private and anonymous families that literally pull the puppet strings of global geo-politics).
Government and political agendas are 100% corrupted by special interest groups and no longer represent the interest of the citizens or electorate. The next 2 decades of digitization will bifurcate the world like the Berlin Wall did to Germany in much the same way. On one side will be the slaves to an inherently broken system (East Berlin) and on the other will be a glimpse of hope, progress and what is to come (West Berlin). If you are so ignorant that you appose change at all cost and fail to educate yourself, prepare yourself and protect yourself for such change, then you deserve what comes to you. Believe me, it won’t be pretty.
I wish everyone well, but when I see blind negativity like this, I understand it is a symptom of fear and insecurity. You better fasten your seat belts because the things which are triggering you and your fear and insecurity are about to get ratcheted up 100X!
So either start educating yourself deeply about the origin and purpose of money and power and how that will translate into a digital economy and world (The Sovereign Individual – a book – is a great place to start)…or you might as well just continue sitting on the sofa, eating processed foods, listening to your propaganda machine and basically just killing yourself. You are just a battery on which the World you believe you live in will feed itself.
Perception is reality. But it can be a choice…
By the way, I am doing more for and in the domain name industry than almost anyone else out there, certainly anyone commenting here. But I don’t really engage anymore beyond DomainSherpa because I find so much of this toxicity in our deprived little industry and quite frankly, if I think I’m doing it to benefit the likes of you trolls, then I would stop all together and move on. It is because of schmucks like the commenters above that our industry has such a bad reputation and why it is so difficult to get the market to appreciate the value of our domain names and it is because of risk takers and pioneers like the Booth Brothers and Shane Cultra that innovation and progress happens. Speculation is an essential component of price discovery and progress.
Aldus Huxley said, “Progress is only possible by deviating from the norm.”
Snoop Dogg said, “For those who don’t like it, eat a dick.”
I have a lot of respect for you but if you really believe all that you have been spending too much time with the crypto conspiracy nuts (who are pretty much also exclusively hardcore rightwingers). The same stuff has been said long before crypto was even a thing and sure, it could happen but will it? Not in our lifetimes at least. Either you are really trying to sell this stuff or you drank too much of the kool aid. I have nothing against nft’s. i just think that using it for auto generated cartoon apes is kinda dumb and pointless. there has to be some kind of real use or value, otherwise what is the point?
Jpegs are not domain names. They have zero utility. The domain industry brands and podcasts need to stay focused on domains, or risk losing people. If my Corvette club talked about mini coopers, it would lose credibility. I do not ever want to be lumped into the world of NFT wash trading and ponzi hype. Let the NFT guys shout into their own echochamber on clubhouse but don’t dilute domain brands with this mess. It is clear as day that wash trading is propping up this Nft market. I’ve lost respect for some of the OG domain guys hyping NFTs. On one hand they rave about the community and transparency, and on the other hand they hide behind NDAs for their “domain sales”. Pump pump pump the market and then keep sale prices hidden. Shill nfts to an existing domain audience and tell them they are idiots for not buying the hype. The lack of brand focus from places like Sherpa reminds me of a facebook page that was once cool, but then started posting baby pics when they became a parent. The rants seeping into the domain podcast space about why NFTS are the future sounds like a manic bi polar conversion I’d have with a guy living under a bridge. The sky is falling, don’t miss out, all BS which risks tarnishing the domain industry. Keep that Nft stink far away.
I’m not going to argue for or against utility of NFTs because I don’t have any idea.
If one of your Corvette buddies bought a rare Porsche for $200,000 and sold it 3 weeks later for $350,000, I bet your Corvette friends would either be happy for that guy or bust his balls for buying a Porsche. Either way, they would probably talk about it if it was a longtime and prominent member of your club who did it. I am sure they would not sell their Corvettes and start buying Porsches, but they would talk about it.
I think they would be upset if the Corvette club meeting cut out 15 minutes a week to talk about Porsche, but I don’t think anyone would care if people spent a few moments chatting about it. I only see 5 articles about NFTs that I have written, and all were about domain investors buying or selling them. I have no personal experience in that market and would neither offer advice or attempt to discuss investment-worthiness. They have all been about well-known and successful domain investors who have shifted funds and/or interest to that market.
Personally, as someone who has seen Andy, James, Andrew, and others acquire domain names I was negotiating to buy, I would be very happy for them to shift all of their attention and money into that space.
Chris. Not one person I know called anyone an idiot for not buying NFTs. Those are your words and most likely your thoughts. You lose respect for me because I talk NFTs? I guarantee you never had it because I don’t focus. I’ve talked honey, stocks, options, domains, and life for a decade. That’s WHY they follow me. Many of us are followed and respected because we are not wearing blinders and can see value other assets, especially digital assets. We know domains have utility but they have utility in the world as we know it. They have no value in the meta verse. That is an area that the next generation is venturing in to. It would be foolish to place all your eggs in one basket. This is another basket. A basket that is evolving and has opportunity so we got it. Our decision has paid off. You can cheer, watch, join, or bitch. Only the bitching gets you nowhere.
Hey Chris – I have an idea! Why don’t you get up off your ass and fucking do something with yourself instead of armchair quarterbacking what I and others do? What a novel fucking idea!
Listen you terd, I paid for this microphone and I’ll fucking use it however I please!!! I don’t personally give a fuck if anyone listens, I’m having a really fun time talking about topics that interest me with people I like who are curious, open minded and excited about change and progress! Remarkably, our audience has GROWN about 5 fold, so maybe you should ask yourself if you are the odd duck?
If that stuff isn’t your cup of tea than please by all means go start your own blog, podcast or business. The more people bringing exposure, attention and thought leadership to the space, the better for everyone. Even dimwits like yourself!
Whether or not NFT’s are just beanie babies or something more is irrelevant! This is about freedom of speech, freedom of thought and about change and progress.
I fucking dare you to get in my way of any of those things! I’ll run you over like a fucking speed bump…
AND BY THE WAY…Please show me where any of us on DomainSherpa told any of you to go out and buy NFT’s??? In fact, most of the people that ask me, I tell them NOT to buy them. I might say, go expirement, play with it, try it out, etc… But generally followed by, but only with money you can afford to lose and start SMALL. We have discussed our experiences, successes, failures and given our own analysis (which often differ) about this new and emerging market that is absolutely key to digital assets. But we have never as far as I know ever pumped the market, ridiculed anyone for not participating or told anyone that they should buy, invest or speculate in NFT’s. EVER. However, If you don’t understand the connection between domain names and NFT’s then you are in the wrong business to begin with. If you think that NFT’s are just Jpegs, then you are just stupid.
Anyhow, last comment I’m making and probably the last time I’ll even engage with the “industry” beyond my owned and operated sphere’s of influence. Because people like you are toxic and I want nothing to do with any of it.
It’s Elliot’s choosing to report non-domain related investment news and ultimately, a lot of domain investors have flocked to the space because there is simply more life (at the moment). Nobody is trashing domains, I
will always be loyal to the industry that has served me for decades, but it’s wise to at least be aware of emerging trends and new industries that, as it happens, have extreme investment potential.
A lot of accusations are tabled from people who clearly just don’t understand. How would I be in bed with Sandbox? I have never spoken to anyone from that group in my life. Folk need to investigate and interrogate them as to WHY they would spend almost $3m on a ‘jpeg’. It’s actually an iconic character with IP rights that could be used for a multitude of purposes. In the Metaverse, it represents serious clout. I can’t put a price on it, but they clearly have.
I also do not peddle NFTs nor the narrative that others should get involved. I’m actually quite cautious in the space and realize it may be more volatile than traditional assets. My brother has taken it to a much higher level and has reaped immense rewards that I can barely comprehend. Fortune favors the brave (or stupid).
If it isn’t for you, avert your attention and ignore the article. Try not to get triggered. Plenty of opportunities all over!
Like Elliot, I own zero NFT(s) as my plate already is full with software dev, domain investing and volunteer work.
But you can’t call NFT a ponzi, as most buyers are sophisticated investors and large corporations. My friend created an NFT artpiece that was acquired by Adobe, and the largest luxe brand in the world has commissioned her for more pieces.
Are there worthless NFT(s)? Of course, just like 95% of art created. But the ones that have heat and can be liquidated pronto, like warhols, basquiats, jackson pollacks in the modern art marketplace, seem to escalate in value and there’s demand beyond a mere clubhouse group.
And I’ve never felt the NFT/Domainers have been pitching us “to get in on NFTs or risk FOMO.”
Again, I have no NFT doggo in this fight. If I did, I’d gas her up on one of the auction platforms (opensea, nifty, etc)
I think everyone has a point. It just depends on the risk toleration of yourself.
I never did hear someone sell a domain over million 2x in a month. I will get into the world of NFTs for sure and everybody in domain business has to in my opinion. But of course its not the same thing with a domain. You can build a business on a domain. Where i still cant understand why people pay so much money to Picasso paintings and NFTs i may sometime when i have same amount of cash like them.
Just like in every new industry growing, one has to learn before he acts.
🙂 My 2 cents.
Good God, Andrew you’re the biggest piece of garbage in this space. Foul as hell.
See this
OpenSea admits insider trading of NFTs it promoted
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58585342