ccTLD

The aftermarket for .AI domain names has grown tremendously over the last several years. A look at Namebio shows the growing annual dollar volume of sales that were publicly reported in the aftermarket.

• 2018: $420.8k
• 2019: $1.1m
• 2020: $1.1m
• 2021: $1.2m
• 2022: $878.7k
• 2023: $5.6m
• 2024: $11.7m
• 2025 YTD: $3.2m (my guess is $20m+ for the year)

These aftermarket sales figures do not take into account the number of domain names that have been hand registered by buyers for the registration fee. The .AI registry requires a 2 year registration, and the cost is approaching $100/year. By all accounts, the number of .AI registrations is also growing at a considerable rate.

The .IO ccTLD extension could possibly be “phased out” if sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is moved to Mauritius. My feeling is that it is highly unlikely the .IO extension will be removed given the number of businesses using .IO domain names. There is still a chance it could happen, and businesses would be forced to change domain names and possibly rebrand if the extension is terminated.

With that potential risk in mind, I was curious to know if industry colleagues are broaching this topic with clients who are interested in buying .IO domain names. I reached out to a small group of people whose companies advise on domain name deals and broker the sale of valuable domain names to ask the following:

Last month, there were numerous articles that discussed the potential demise of the .IO domain name extension following news that the “UK will give sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius.” I suspect this was surprising news to many of the companies that operate on .IO domain names without any connection to the region where this ccTLD domain extension is assigned.

Earlier today, Identity Digital distributed a press release announcing its partnership with the government of Anguilla to manage its .AI ccTLD. Now at more than half a million domain registrations, I believe .AI must be one of the fastest growing ccTLD extensions ever. As I understand, the entire .AI namespace has been operated by a fairly small team led by Vince Cate.

Identity Digital serves as the back-end provider for hundreds of domain extensions. Some of the country code domain extensions operated by Identity Digital include .IO, .AU, and .PR. The company also serves as the back-end provider for .org and .info, along with hundreds of alternative extensions like .Bet, .Lawyer, .Run, and many more.

This afternoon, representatives from the Government of Anguilla and Identity Digital held a press conference to announce the deal and answer questions. I am sure domain investors who buy .AI domain names – or those who are interested in buying .AI domain names – may have additional questions. The video of the press conference is below: