Two bidders pushed the final bid up by $15,000.
An expired domain auction for bitcoin.xyz ended at $42,501 on Namecheap today.
Bidding was at $15,001 with less than a minute left on the original auction, but like most hot auctions, late bids continually extended the bidding. Only two remaining bidders duked it out when the auction hit $27,000.
This domain is a registry premium domain, meaning the winning bidder also has to pay a premium to renew it each year. They’ll have to pay $3,250 to Namecheap on top of the winning bid. If you consider the renewal fees in perpetuity and use a 10% discount rate, they’re paying an additional $32,500 to acquire this domain. If you use current interest rates of around 5%, they’re paying an additional $65,000.
.Xyz has become popular for web3 businesses, and bitcoin is one of the most popular terms in the space. Web3 purchases of .xyz domains seem to have slowed over the past month as the crypto market imploded, though. I think this domain would have sold for more two months ago.
The implosion was only because of the terraluna attack. The attacker and their people really didn’t know how far this would reach.
Well and awful press and Celsius obviously
Had an exchange on Twitter with XYZ, Namecheap about this Bitcoin(.)xyz premium pricing scheme. Based on this discussion, I’m convinced XYZ can raise renewal rate to whatever price they choose.
Not saying it’ll happen, but until someone shows EXACTLY where in ICAAN policy it prohibits XYZ from raising renewals to whatever it likes; I think they can.
Theoretical scenario: Year 2024.
Bitcoin bottoms out at $5K in 2023, another ‘greater fool’ mania sweeps crypto markets in Q2 2024 as Bitcoin reaches $100K .
Business leaders at XYZ, see an opportunity to make more money on XYZ premiums. They say, we can flex this registry super power, maybe GD will buy us out too? Plus, Many crypto startups would love to have Bitcoin XYZ in 2024.
XYZ notifies Bitcoin XYZ registrant renewal price will increase to $10K (2024) then $25K (2025).
Where in ICANN policy does it say XYZ and other ngtlds can’t do this? Why isn’t the $3250 current renewal price arbitrary?
Legacy TLDs have a FIXED renewal rate which is to the advantage of domainers and consistency. Could you imagine if legacy gtld registry was given this arbitrary pricing power! They could claw-back thousands of premium dot-Com domains by raising renewals to $thousands.
Why not institute a $100K premium on Sex*com? Voice*com? Casino*com?
How many 5K+ portfolio holders could stay solvent in such an environment?
Sure, I’m being theoretical, but I couldn’t help but consider the above scenario. Hopefully I am wrong about this arbitrary pricing power of ngtlds.
Your comment is incorrect and was already answered here: https://domainnamewire.com/2022/06/24/can-registries-reclassify-your-domain-as-premium-before-renewal/
The entry from Article 2.1says:
“The foregoing requirements of this Section 2.10(c) shall not apply for (i) purposes of determining Renewal Pricing if the registrar has provided Registry Operator with documentation that demonstrates that the applicable registrant expressly agreed in its registration agreement with registrar to higher Renewal Pricing at the time of the initial registration of the domain name following clear and conspicuous disclosure of such Renewal Pricing to such registrant.”
My interpretation, if registry and registrar enter language into nGTLD agreement with registrants, a variable pricing model on annual renewal COULD be valid.
For the benefit of Domain community, it’d be great if Andrew could invite a lawyer with expertise on ICANN policy, a registrar and registry decision maker to make it as plain and clear as possible.
Until then, this language isn’t as clear cut as it appears until you read the agreements registrants sign at the 1,000s of ngtld registries.
Bitcoin and crypto are worthless trash. Such a sad greater fool bag holder tragedy. But Wall Street still wants to milk it, so no need for government to pull the plug yet.