Long-time domain investor Niko Younts said he’s putting what he claims is the biggest portfolio of crypto-related domain names ever amassed up for sale for $2 million. The portfolio includes about 1,200 names, including bitcoinnetwork.com.
Buyers often use domain names in marketing and lead-generation for other sites. Coinbase Inc. pays Younts -- who sold the domain name bitcoinwallet.com for $250,000 in 2014 -- a commission for sending new users to its cryptocurrency wallet and exchange, he said. Others buy the domain names to run businesses, such as wallets and crypto newsletters.
Domain names containing bitcoin have more than four times as many registrations this year, compared with all of 2016, according to GoDaddy Inc. Names containing ethereum have more than five times as many registrations, the domain registrar and web-hosting company said.
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The number of cryptocurrency-related domain-name sales in the $1,000 range and up has already reached into several hundred this year, up from only a few dozen last year, Jackson said. Cryptonews.com sold for $50,536 in August, while cryptobank.com netted $125,000 in April. Bitcoincash.org sold for $48,888 in July and bitcoin.casino sold for $28,000 in March, Jackson said.