PALM BEACH, FL – A company called “Unstoppable Domains”, a San Francisco-based startup which recently secured $4 million in venture capital funding says it is launching a new gTLD domain on the “.crypto” extension which is intended to provide users with “human-readable” wallet addresses, intended to simplify the process of sending and receiving funds. Potentially even more interesting is the vision behind Unstoppable Domains and their desire is to create what they call … [Read more...]
Lawyer Says Domain Name Investors Are “Hijacking and Ransoming Domains”
PALM BEACH, FL – This is an interesting topic by itself, although I covered something very much like it just the other day in "Panels Consistently Find That 'Domain Investing' Is Legitimate Bona Fide Offering". A lawyer named Tamara Kurtzman wrote an article that appeared on the website of the American Bar Association which details her opinion that “Domain Name Investing” should really be considered “Domain Name Hoarding” and labeled as “Anticipatory … [Read more...]
.NET Year in Review (2018): Top 100 Highest Reported .NET Domain Sales (NameBio)
PALM BEACH, FL – This is another follow-up from last years list; .NET Year in Review (2017): (It's been a busy year and it looks as though I got to it late this year) According to NameBio, as of now there are 2,430 total domain sales are on the books for the .net domain name in 2018. (Compared to the 4,325 .ORGs) The value of these top 100 totals just $946,689 - much worse than the .org domains did ($1,698,630.00) last year - looks bad for .net. We can add this … [Read more...]
.ORG Year in Review (2018): Top 100 Highest Reported .ORG Domain Sales (NameBio)
PALM BEACH, FL – This is a follow-up from last years list; .ORG Year in Review (2017): Top 100 Highest Reported .ORG Domain Sales (NameBio) According to NameBio, as of now 4,325 total domain sales are on the books for the .org domain name. The value of these top 100 totals $1,698,630.00, about 500k higher than the year prior, however, it is later in the year and some straggling sales could appear when they are finally reported. These lists seem to change slightly if and … [Read more...]
GrubHub’s Aggressive Customer Micro-Site Domain Strategy Makes Bad Situation Worse
PALM BEACH, FL – Most of the dust has now settled, but back in late June/early July of this year, restaurant ordering service GrubHub, found itself boiling in hot water when a domain name strategy of building ‘micro-sites’ or 'landing pages', using what you could call, confusingly similar domain names of its customers, was called out in media headlines far and wide across the Internet. Grubhub Inc. GRUB (NYSE) is a Chicago-based online and/or mobile food ordering service … [Read more...]
Domain Industry Takes Note of ICANN Update to Public Comment Guidelines
PALM BEACH, FL – On October 9, 2019, ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit corporation that sets policy for the global Domain Name System (DNS), updated its “policy guidelines” for how it collects and takes into considering feedback from the ICANN community or the general public. The update was posted on the organizations website by David Olive, Senior Vice President of Policy Development Support. The ICANN site states the following … [Read more...]
NYT Highlights Sealed Auction of Domain “Democracy.com” Via Heritage Auctions
UPDATE 11/4/2019: Auction for Domain Name “Democracy.com” Extended to November 7th Closing PALM BEACH, FL – What could possibly be better than being the auctioneer of a generic, super premium .com domain name like Democracy.com? Having that same opportunity with it being covered by the New York Times. That’s what’s happening with Democracy.com, a super premium generic domain name which is being offered for sale in a sealed bidding contest held by Heritage Auctions, … [Read more...]
Panels Consistently Find That “Domain Investing” Is Legitimate Bona Fide Offering
PALM BEACH, FL – Upon reading recent news from “Neus News”, I stumbled onto an interesting find where Howard Neu, a long-time attorney for the domain name industry, was representing a domain owner in a case where Oath Inc. (now Verizon Media), the company that purchased Yahoo! related assets in 2017 for $4.83 billion, claimed the domain name “YMobile.com” was infringing on Yahoo! related trademarks such as “Y”’ and “Y!”, as well as “Y Mobile” (although Y Mobile is only held … [Read more...]
Generic Domain Name “Cola.com” For Sale
PALM BEACH, FL – Most people who hear the generic dictionary word “Cola” more than likely associate it with the Coca-Cola beverage manufacturer, mostly known from its flagship carbonated soft-drink “Coca-Cola”, invented well over a hundred years ago in 1886. However, the 4-letter generic word represents a slew of Cola manufacturers and carbonated soft-drink brands - over 100 of them, including some which are considered “Cola-like” brands. It seems safe to assume … [Read more...]
Buyer of Record-Breaking Domain Sale, “Voice.com”, Ordered to Pay $24M SEC Fine
PALM BEACH, FL – On May 30, 2019, the domain name “Voice.com” was sold in a record-breaking all-cash transaction that has officially gone down in the history books as the highest valued domain name sale ever on record when Blockchain company “Block.one” purchased the .com web address from MicroStrategy Incorporated (Nasdaq: MSTR) for $30,000,000.00. The sale lit-up the domain industry when it was announced in June of this year in a MicroStrategy press release. Domain … [Read more...]
Investor Land Grab Opportunity Arises from Donuts Registry with Reduced Price gTLDs
PALM BEACH, FL –An interesting opportunity has arisen from new domain name registry company Donuts Inc., which operates roughly 240 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Although I am less than a huge fan of new gTLDs, there are industry veterans who do in fact use them in certain scenarios of ‘super premiums’, and you’ll have an opportunity to filter through a list of over 1.1 million names (previously on hold) now being released in a price-drop by the … [Read more...]
Edmonton Police Seize Three Canadian Domain Names from Fake Job Scam
PALM BEACH, FL – Three more domain names have vanished from the Internet due to a fake job scam; something frequently being used to steal money from unsuspecting victims. According to Canadian Yahoo News, Edmonton police have seized three Internet domains as part of an investigation involving fake job ads posted on the employment site Indeed.com. Police say the scam has cost victims over $240k. Visitors of the Canadian sites (which were not disclosed) are now … [Read more...]
LGBT Domain Registration Service, PrideLife LLC, Announces Relationship With Afilias
PALM BEACH, FL - A new domain name registration service is hoping its partnership with Afilias and its "LGBT" theme will help spotlight its business, which caters to the LGBT community and offers domain name registrations such as the new ".lgbt" domain name. The service, PrideLife LLC (getpridelife.lgbt), also suggests other alternative Afilias sponsored gTLDs such as ".red", ".pink", ".black" and others. The .lgbt TLD was delegated by ICANN in 2014 and shows just under … [Read more...]
Savvy Business Owners Know That Great Domain Names Can Grow Your Business
PALM BEACH, FL – I enjoy seeing great use-cases for domain name acquisitions where an end user recognizes the power of a great domain name and how they can help you grow your business. There has never been as much noise and competition to break-through on the Internet than there is right now, and a great domain name can be the ‘differentiator’ in how you stand out in a sea of consumer choice. For example, in reviewing the DNJournal.com year-to-date sales list, you’ll find … [Read more...]
German Police Raid Hosting Facility Dubbed “CyberBunker”; Seize Domains, 200 Servers
BERLIN – Thirteen people were arresting during a raid in Germany on September 27, 2019. According to Brian Krebs, a security journalist and investigative reporter for Krebs on Security, the raid targeted the physical premises of a Dark Web hosting operation that described itself as a “bulletproof” hosting provider that was willing to provide web site hosting services to any business, no matter how illegal or unsavory. This past Friday, 600 military equipped officers … [Read more...]