Thoughts

Andrew Miller

September 29, 2024

Crypto is Good for the Domain Aftermarket

I have been waiting for a lull in the frenzy to discuss crypto and domains. Whatever side of crypto you stand on, it is real and being applied more often. I have been a believer and investor for years and I know many of my peers have as well. Domain investors tend to be entrepreneurial, and savvy when it comes to trends. We at Hilco Digital Assets have overseen many large $ domain transactions in the past 2 years where crypto currency, usually USDT/USDC, has been the desired form of payment on the buy or sell side. If you are invested in domain names, you should be prepared to understand how to accept deals done with crypto. There are certainly issues, as with any earlier stage adoption. For one, it is known that there are bad actors using crypto for below board activities and recently, domain names have been one avenue where we have seen that attempted. If you are going to do a deal in crypto, you should expect whomever is serving as escrow for the transaction to conduct KYC and AML checks, before being willing to proceed on your behalf. We did a crypto deal with a major US VC this year, where they paid in cash and the seller got paid out via escrow in USDT.  Escrow Domains has been great and proactive, and Bitpay has opened the doors for crypto deals for Atom and leading companies such as GoDaddy, with whom we are in the midst of closing a large crypto transaction. I am excited that there is a new avenue for domain transactions, and that with the growth in seller financing, and crypto, there are creative alternatives for brands and companies to transact.

Atom is Thriving!

Speaking of Atom.com, on the ultra premium marketplace, for which we at HDA oversee listings and negotiations, sales are strong and growing and innovation abounds. As the great Steve Jobs once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”. Atom is a tech company first and foremost and the testing and experimentation that rises from that approach is and will continue to power the domain name asset class to higher levels.

Some of our Category Domains

ID*com, Candy*com, Advertise*com, Beer*com, Audience*com, Basketball*com, Hockey*com, Track*com, Captions*com, Conversation*com, Chef*com, Election*com, Dialogue*com, Face*com, ElectricVan(s)*com, Internet*com, Fit*com, Goods*com, Investment*com, VentureCapital*com, PrivateEquity*com, Jog*com, Mall*com, Bookmark*com, Metals*com, Nashville*com, Patents*com, Alerts*com, Prize(s)*com, Raffle*com, Sample*com, Purchase*com, Series*com, Snore*com, SportsFan*com, Test*com, Exam*com, Therapy*com, Traveler*com, Trivia*com, WallStreet*com, Videos*com, Waterfront*com are some of the category defining names we own or are overseeing at HDA. Next week I will post some of our brandable domains.

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