In a deal that was announced via press release just before the end of  2014, the Bingo.com domain name and accompanying online  community  were sold by a company called Bingo.com, Ltd.    to a company called Unibet Group plc. “for total consideration of $8,000,000.“    Bingo.com, Ltd. is a OTC traded company with a ticker symbol  BNGOF.

The press release stated that “[t]he Company is receiving cash consideration of $2,000,000 and redemption of the 15,000,000 common shares of the Company, which are held by Unibet, at a price of $0.40 per share.”

The press release shared some information about the current state of the business and some of the rationale  for the sale:

In December of 2012, NYE.com sold at NameJet for $175,000. Prior to the sale, I discussed the domain name in a contest post and speculated that it would be great for a new years eve website, perhaps to sell party tickets or restaurant reservations. As you can see, NYE.com has since been developed into a new years eve focused website.

I was checking out a variety of new years eve related domain names and websites, and I came across one that was a bit surprising to me. If you visit NewYear.com, you are taken directly to a DomainNameSales.com inquiry page. Despite the fact that it’s the busiest time of the year for this domain name and related searches, NewYear.com is foregoing domain parking and sending visitors straight to a page to let them know it may be for sale.

NewYear.com is a domain name owned

At the beginning of the year, I shared three reasons why I wouldn’t be inclined to sell a domain name for Bitcoin. At the time of the article, a single Bitcoin was worth about $590 at Coinbase. Today, the value of a Bitcoin is approximately $317 on Coinbase.

The title of an article on BloombergView.com last week, “2014’s Worst Currency Was…Bitcoin,” says enough about why it could have been bad to sell a domain name for Bitcoin in the last year: “The digital currency peaked at a value of $1,130 just over a year ago. Its plunge of more than 56 percent in 2014 makes it the world’s worst performing currency this year, according to Bloomberg, which tracks 175 foreign-exchange values,” wrote Mark Gilbert, author of  the Bloomberg View article.

In my article about why I wouldn’t sell a domain for Bitcoin, I shared three reasons for my hesitation:

• Large swings in valuation
• Lack of  a paper trail and trackability
• I don’t understand it

If I had sold a domain name for Bitcoin back in February, the value of the sale would be far less today. For the ease of illustrating the plunge, had I sold a domain name for around $6,000 in February, that sale would be worth less than $3,500 today. Had I sold it when Bitcoin was worth over $1,000, that loss would be even greater today. Perhaps I would have cashed out the Bitcoin at the time of the sale, but had I felt strongly about the value of Bitcoin, I may not have exchanged it and would have a paper loss right now.

Hindsight is 20/20, so it’s easy for me to say this today. I am also sure there  people who bought and sold domain names before the huge rise in valuation who made even more money as a result of selling a domain name for Bitcoin. Looking at it today after initially thinking about earlier this year, I have to say that I am glad I have not sold a domain name for Bitcoin. That’s not to say that things won’t change in the future though.

Have you sold a domain name for Bitcoin before? If you did, how did you make out with the transaction? Did you exchange the Bitcoin right away or did you hang on to them? As always, your thoughts are invited.