First .COM, then .IO – the biggest domain sales are going to crypto companies

Well it certainly has been an interesting couple of months in the domain name world. First Voice.com sells for $30M to Block.one, a company that made its money in the crypto space, and now Swipe.io has broken the record for highest .IO sale at $68,000…and it’s going to be used for a crypto app.

Now before you get excited and start buying a bunch of “crypto” domains, take note – both of these record-breaking sales were made to companies in the crypto space, neither of them have the word “crypto” or “Bitcoin” in them.

The reality is, there are a lot of people, and companies out there that made millions of dollars thanks to crypto in the last two years. These people, and companies, can afford to pay more than most people to buy things that they want, domain names being one of them.

But if you look at what’s happening, they aren’t out there buying a bunch of “crypto” domains – instead they’re buying generic one-word domains for projects they are working on or companies they are starting.

So what does this mean for domain investors?

Well, I personally think it means that if you want top dollar for your domains, selling to someone who just made a fortune in crypto isn’t a bad idea. For those doing outbound this means if you can identify companies that could be interested in your domain that are in the crypto space, they could pay more than other people. What this doesn’t mean is that you should only sell your domains to people in the crypto space, that would probably delay sales and in many cases nullify your chance of selling a domain.

In short – don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here and decide to only sell your domains to companies in the crypto space. At the same time, putting a little extra effort in if you’re doing outbound, and identifying people who just made millions of dollars and are building a brand around a generic domain you own, well that might make quite a bit of sense now.

Last but not least – these are only two data points so nothing I’m saying here has any statistical significance. That being said, it’s no secret that there are a lot of people with tens of millions of dollars in their pocket now thanks to crypto. That money is going to be put to use to build new companies and drive innovation in many new exciting ways, and as we all know, the most critical element of any online brand is, drumroll please…a domain name.

Okay, you’ve heard my two cents, now I want to hear from you. What do you think? Comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton