Citi, one of the world’s largest financial companies, is looking to hire a Domain Administration Analyst. The job listing was posted on LinkedIn about a month ago, and there are a handful of applicants so far. I think this job would be desirable for someone with domain management experience looking for a corporate job related to domain names.

Here’s an excerpt from the LinkedIn post that describes the job opening:

I read an article in Ad Age about brands purchasing crypto domain names. The article mentioned some major brands that acquired domain names in the .Eth extension that matched their brand name or trademark. There are other crypto extensions like .crypto, .nft, .bitcoin, and many more.

Crypto domain investing seems pretty similar to old school domain investing. People can purchase domain names speculatively with the hopes of selling them to someone willing to pay more. The difference, of course, is crypto domain names are on the blockchain and legacy domain extensions like .com and .org are not. In addition, crypto domain names do not resolve to websites on most web browsers. For instance, if you type in Budweiser.eth on Chrome, you won’t get to a website but you may end up on a Google search for that term.

I am curious to know how much overlap there is between people who invest in crypto domain names and people who invest in legacy domain names. Do most people choose one or the other or is there generally a combination of both. I would be interested to know if many people got started buying crypto-related assets and migrated to crypto domain names or if legacy domain name investors saw an opportunity with crypto domain names and added those to the portfolio.

Please vote in the Twitter poll embedded below and feel free to share more about how you got started investing in crypto domain names or why you have chosen not to buy them:

Poll to learn more about the overlap of crypto and legacy domain name investing. More context in my article: https://t.co/qdHItSMTap

— Elliot Silver (@DInvesting) June 21, 2022

Many companies have their IT, legal, or marketing groups manage their corporate domain name assets. Some companies outsource their domain name management to corporate registrars like CSC, GCD, or MarkMonitor. Very few companies seem to have a person whose role is specifically related to domain name management.

I noticed that Wells Fargo posted a job opening on LinkedIn related to domain names. The financial services giant is looking to hire a Domain Management Specialist. This position entails management of the company’s portfolio of domain names as well as the acquisition of domain names.

Here’s an excerpt from the job listing with an overview of the role:

On a bike ride yesterday, I was chatting briefly about domain names with a friend. I acquired a nice domain name a few months earlier while on a ski trip with this friend and our families, and I received an offer to buy that name right before our ride. My friend asked me how long it takes me to sell a domain name.

This is a question I have been asked many times, and it is impossible to answer. Sometimes it can take days to sell a domain name and sometimes a domain name never sells. The hold time for a domain name acquisition can vary tremendously for a plethora of reasons.

Over the weekend, Rick Schwartz posted a tweet highlighting the fact that domain name sales appear to be seriously down this year vs. last year:

Major sales of #Domains DOWN +/- 50% in 2022 according to @DNJournal

2021…. Well over 100 #DomainNames sold for $100k+. About 9-10 /month.

2022 we’re at 5/month

7-fig sales:
2021 1.25/month
2022 .08/month

Why?
Company Valuations losing 50% +/-
$$ diverted to #NFTs
Mood pic.twitter.com/SFIKVbfjOg

— Rick Schwartz 👑 The DomainKing® 👑 Since 1995 👑 (@DomainKing) May 27, 2022

When 2022 comes to its conclusion, it might turn out that Rick will be correct. We could see a big decrease in domain name sales year over year. In fact, here’s what I shared for the InterNetX market report (left on the cutting room floor): “I suspect we will see a strong first half of 2022 and potentially a slowdown later on in the year.”

When I win a domain name at NameJet, it usually ends up in a Network Solutions account I control. I don’t keep many domain names at Network Solutions, but I always seem to have a dozen or two domain names there. As a result, I login to my Network Solutions account regularly.

This afternoon when logging in to Network Solutions, I noticed a subtle change in how the website looks. Above the NS logo is a blue banner with a white Web.com logo and a message that says, “Thinking about selling online? Build your eCommerce Site with Web.com.” In addition, underneath the Network Solutions logo is a small tagline that says “Powered by Web.com.” Both companies are owned by Newfold Digital.