Second quarter was the fourth-highest for gross payments.
Freelancer Limited (ASX: FLN, OTCQX: FRLCY) reported results for the first half of 2026 today, showing a very strong performance in its Escrow.com business.
Gross Marketplace Value (total of payments handled) at Escrow.com was up 55% year over year on a constant currency basis. The Australian dollar strengthened against the U.S. dollar, so it was up 39.0% in Australian dollars, from A$372.5 million to A$517.6 million. Most Escrow.com transactions are in U.S. dollars.
On a U.S. dollar basis, the second quarter of this year was the fourth-highest ever for gross payments, according to a chart in Freelancer’s investor presentation.
The company reported that it handled US$255 million in domain transactions during the half. It processed US$128 million in the first quarter, suggesting about the same in the second quarter.
Domain transactions (by total value) were up 56% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025.
Gross Payment Volume in the second quarter was up about 20% compared to Q1, so the growth in the second quarter came from outside of the domain business.
Escrow.com said it entered the wholesale electronics business, and it expects this to eventually be its second-largest vertical. It also handles autos, IPV4 addresses, and other items.
On the product front, Escrow.com said it will release a new front-end experience in Q3.
Freelancer’s flagship Freelancer.com business struggled in the first half, which the company attributed to several issues:
- Mitigation efforts against scraper bots led to SEO de-indexing
- Two-factor login and other security controls churned returning customers
- A failed payment gateway migration, which revealed long-running problems with payment gateways
We’ve been seeing this as well. AI has made it easy for anyone to get a project online and those projects need a home. It makes having a memorable domain all the more important. A premium .com is a strong signal that the project isn’t just going to disappear.