Currency swings could influence aftermarket transactions.
2025 was not a good year for the U.S. dollar.
Compared to a basket of currencies, it was down nearly 10% last year. This is one reason U.S. residents investing in foreign stocks did well last year; even if the stocks didn’t appreciate, they “gained” about 10% in dollar terms.
This has interesting implications for the domain name business, which is very international. Buyers from around the world transact in domain names, and domain prices vary depending on where the parties reside and their primary currency.
If your assets are in U.S. dollars and you’re trying to buy a domain from someone whose assets are in the euro, pound sterling, and many other currencies, domain purchases are more expensive now than a year ago, even if the buyer is asking for the same amount in their currency.
The inverse is also true; someone in the UK who wants to buy your domain denominated in dollars will have to pay less.
In other words, this huge currency swing can have both positive and negative effects. It’s good if you’re a U.S. seller; it could be bad if you’re a U.S. buyer trying to acquire domains from overseas.
For example, say you’re a U.S. buyer trying to acquire a domain priced at €10,000.
At the end of 2024, that would have set you back about $10,500. Today, it would be about $11,650.
That makes it harder for someone to sell a domain to someone in the U.S., as the cost has increased significantly.
But it could make it easier for someone in the U.S. to sell a domain to someone who holds euros. A domain priced at $10,000 is currently €8,600, compared to €9,600 a year ago.
If the dollar continues to decline, it could have interesting effects on the domain name aftermarket.
“Irregardless ” henceforth….whether is strong or weak dollar, it is still disadvantage to people living in 3rd/4th world countries like in Afghanistan, Gaza, etc etc.. so it is like only 0.000000000001% of the world population can only participate in this domain industry….
a $10 USD domain registration is nothing to most of us but it is between eating or starving to most of the people…
And that’s OK, because most domain investors wherever they are in the world hold hundreds of domain names in their portfolios that will never sell to anyone anywhere in the world because the domain names are pigeon shit worth less than the $10 registration fee they paid to register each domain name. Sad, but true.