NFTs.com was reportedly sold for a whopping $15 million through a deal brokered by Domainer and GoDaddy, making it the second largest public domain sale of all time.
NFTs.com has purportedly sold for a whopping $15 million, making it the second all-time largest public domain sale. In 2019, a blockchain company paid over $30 million plus commission to acquire the domain voice.com. The most recent sale means that the two biggest public domain sales ever are related to blockchain technology.
Domainer and GoDaddy brokered the deal for an anonymous buyer, while Escrow.com provided escrow services and verified the transaction in a press release.
“NFTs.com is a phenomenal asset, considering how NFTs are revolutionizing digital asset ownership, laying the foundation of the Metaverse economy, play-to-earn games, and more,” the press release wrote.
NFTs.com Sale Elicits Unfavorable Reactions
The NFTs.com domain is one of the most significant blockchain-related deals conducted on a brokerage platform. About four years ago, the domain’s sale price was only $25,795. A domain variation, NFT.com and Eth.com, sold for $2 million in 2021 and 2017, respectively.
NFTs.com has been under Whois privacy since March 2021. Before that, there were two registered owners for the domain—Get on the Web (a domain investor) and an unknown owner in Monaco.
While the identity of the domain buyer is shrouded in mystery, the landing page for NFTs.com says the DigitalArtists.com marketplace, a curated NFT platform, powers it. Such could indicate that the marketplace might be the buyer or at least associated with the domain buyer. Incidentally, DigitalArtists.com sold for $300,000 last year.
Nevertheless, some point out that this huge sale seems slightly off regarding credibility. Apparently, domain appraisal tools were incorrect in appraising the domain. For instance, GoDaddy.com valued the domain at $7,598. On the other hand, Estibot.com valued it at $18,000, while Saw.com appraised it for $48,000. Alter.com’s appraisal was $3,900.
“The $15 million sale of NFTs.com has brought all sorts of folks hoping their NFT domain names will fetch some six-dollar figures. NFT.com went for $2 million in 2021 and someone did predict that the NFTs.com domain name would sell for eight figures; only to get a dislike,” commented Martin Noam Slutzky, the co-founder of InvestingNFT and the founder of Alef&Sky regarding the news.
On the other hand, Gabriela Reyes, CEO & Co-founder of LivelyVerse, said that while the sale of the NFTs.com domain marks another breakthrough in the increasing relevance of the Web3 ecosystem, it seems somewhat questionable.
“Acquired for $15 million, the domain name is tagged as the second largest domain name acquired, and a number of questions are currently raised about the legitimacy of this sale. With the anonymity of the domain name’s owner, industry observers are wondering whether this is a mere publicity stunt.”
Status of NFTs.com Still Unclear
There is hardly any information about NFTs.com, so it is still unclear what kind the domain would serve. It could be for a new NFT marketplace under DigitalArtists.com. Or the sale could be a case of wash trading or market manipulation to draw public attention. After all, the domain sale seems too pricey at first glance.
“The sale might appear like a marketing stunt, judging from face value. But looking at the trend and the frenzy generated around NFTs, the domain name should have fetched even more,” Slutzky said. “In any case, Car.com sold for 58 times the value of NFTs.com. Cars.com went for $872 million. Besides, we cannot dismiss the sale as a market manipulation since such schemes are usually pump and dump. This is someone acquiring some sort of intellectual property for $15 million, perhaps to drive their business or to derive profit from their venture.”
Reyes noted that the parties involved in the deal—GoDaddy, Domainer, and Escrow.com—are all reputable businesses that have existed for years. As such, these firms would not dip their feet in something that could compromise their integrity. However, she did say that the Web3 and NFT spaces are high-value industries, the actual worth of which is yet to be determined.
“Should domain names like Voice.com be worth as much as $30 million, then the question of NFTs.com’s sale should be less questioned as the buyer has placed enough value on the acquired name,” she concluded.
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