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Anguilla’s .AI ccTLD Revenue May Triple

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In the past couple of days, there have been numerous articles about Anguilla’s .AI ccTLD. I wrote about the InterNetX article, but several mainstream publications have subsequently written about the windfall .AI domain names have produced for the Caribbean nation of Anguilla.

Fortune and Ars Technica each published articles discussing the growth of .AI domain names. Importantly, the revenue from .AI domain name registrations and renewals has become a key economic driver for the nation. With the growth of ChatGPT and AI startup funding in general, many startups have turned to .AI domain names. Companies have registered .AI domain names, and I am sure domain investors have also registered .AI domain names with the hopes of reselling them.

Rich from Dan.com Brokered My Last Deal

I recently received a $5k offer for one of my domain names listed for sale via Dan.com. I had it listed for a little less than $10k on Dan, and I countered at $9k. I asked the buyer a question, but I did not hear back.

If this offer was made on one of my own landing pages and a phone number was provided, I would have called the buyer on the phone. I would have tried to get him to improve his offer, but I probably would have taken the $5k offer had we chatted and I understood this to be a “best” offer. My total investment for this domain name is less than $100, and my hold time is less than two years.

.AI Domain Names: InterNetX Does a Deep Dive

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.AI is the country code extension (ccTLD) for the Caribbean country of Anguilla. Domain names with the .AI extension were originally created to give people in Anguilla their own home online. In the last couple of years, .AI domain names have become popular outside of Anguilla because AI is the abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence. Billions of dollars in funding has been given to AI-related startups, and I have noticed many startups in the field of AI are using .AI domain names.

As a result of the broadened usage of .AI domain names, the value of .AI domain names has taken off. More .AI domain names are selling on the aftermarket, and auction prices for .AI domain names have climbed. YTD, NameBio has recorded more than $3.3m worth of publicly reported .AI domain name sales.

Mega.xyz Buyer Opts Out of LTO

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Lease to Own deals have become quite popular at Dan.com. The buyer can pay for a domain name monthly over a set period of time while Dan.com holds the domain name. If the buyer opts out of the LTO deal, the seller will receive the domain name back and can keep all of the funds paid, minus the monthly commission fee.

Domain Gang and DNW recently reported on the $129k LTO sale of Mega.xyz. As Theo reported, the five year lease to own plan had a total value of $167,000 had all payments been made. When the LTO deal was struck, the seller, domain industry veteran Kellie Peterson, posted on LinkedIn about this LTO deal and prior experience with .XYZ domain names.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw a tweet from Domainler.com asking if the sale had been cancelled because Mega.xyz was now resolving to a Dan.com “for sale” landing page:

Namecheap Makes 2 Changes to Auctions to Enhance Trust

In an email sent to customers this morning, Namecheap announced two changes to its domain name auction Marketplace. The Marketplace platform will assign user badges to illustrate the number of domain auctions bidders have won. The badge levels are Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. In addition, when an auction winner does not pay, it will be re-auctioned rather than offered to the runner up bidder.

The rationale for these changes is “[t]o make sure the Marketplace remains a trusted platform, and to ensure that each auction is conducted fairly.

Here’s the email I received from Namecheap explaining the changes that were made and why the changes were made:

WordPress Introduces “100-Year Plan” Including Domain Registrations

In a blog post yesterday, WordPress announced its new “100-Year Plan.” The plan includes domain name registration, hosting, and support for 100 years. The cost is a staggering $38,000 for each plan.

WordPress created a video advertisement for this new service, and it’s clearly not targeting domain investors or domain name portfolio registrants: