Morgan Linton
Co-Founder & CRO, BoldMetrics.com

While I think crypto is a general trend that sent ripples through the domain industry (no pun intended) this past year, I don't think it had much of an impact on the individual investor. Yes, some investors (myself included) did sell crypto-related domains that they might not have in years past, but the fundamentals have stayed the same and even strengthened in many ways. I think 2016 was all about understanding the impact that new gTLDs would have on .COMs, in 2017 it became clear that .COM was stronger than ever and one and two-word .COMs are still the best investment for individual investors, and any investor IMO but I'm just speaking as an individual here.

One trend that I think has continued to grow and really spread its wings in 2017 is a shift away from traditional parking pages with a "Make Offer" banner at the top to full format landing pages. Companies like Uniregistry and Efty seem to be setting the standard here and making it much easier for domain investors to focus on attracting as many offers as possible on their domains. 

Of course tied to this trend is the continued disintegration of the parking space. I know it

can be a little controversial to say this since yes, there are still people that make good money parking. That being said, when I started buying and selling domains in 2007 parking and buying domains with parking revenue was a hot topic, that's just not the case any more and the consolidation of parking companies really illustrates this. As an individual investor I just see a gradual change that is continuing which is a focus on domains that have real value to an end-user vs. domains that will make money parked. I know this isn't an amazing revelation and some people will read this and say, duh Morgan we already knew this but I think it's important to mention since it is a trend that has continued to decline over the years. 

Looking ahead to 2018...

Now let's talk crypto. It's the elephant in the room and has divided the industry as we now have two factions, Domainers who have also invested in crypto and are bullish on where things are going, and the other side that thinks it's all a bunch of smoke and mirrors. The reality is that anyone can call themselves a "crypto expert" but nobody actually is, the market is too new, too volatile, and too random to predict. What I can say is that it's very likely (probably safe to say it's a fact) that crypto took money away from domains in 2017 and I think investors will continue to split their investments and add crypto as another investment vehicle. 

Here's the thing, I don't think this is going to be bad for domain investors, in fact I think it could be good, less competition means more domains with less bids on the popular auction sites we all know and love. At the same time it does likely mean that if you're a domain investor that sells to other domain investors, the available dollars looking for investment opportunities has been reduced and will continue to be reduced. It's pretty realistic to say that more people are getting into crypto and putting their money into crypto than they are in domain names and I only see that accelerating in 2018.

The flipside is that crypto domains were always a very niche category without a ton of sales activity. Now crypto domains are more valuable than ever and I think we will continue to see more startups and large companies buying crypto domains in 2018 which will put money into the pockets of crypto domain investors. Already this year we've seen domains like CryptoWorld.com sell for $194,888 - it is very unlikely this would have sold for anything close to this a year ago. As an individual domain investor I'm always looking for new opportunities and I think crypto domains are going to have a nice run for years to come. 

The reality is, whether you love or hate crypto, it's not going away, it's growing regardless of the price of cryptos themselves and more companies, services, and technologies are jumping into the space. This means domains with keywords like coin, blockchain, crypto, etc. are going to get increasingly valuable and offer higher returns for domain investors. So whether you're buying cryptos yourself and bullish on the market, or if you think it's all just a giant ponzi scheme, you can't ignore the fact that crypto domains are going up and will very likely continue to do so well beyond 2018.

George Verdugo 
Founder, CasasBaratas.com

George Verdugo has one of the great rags to riches stories in our industry - one that we told in our December 2017 Cover Story. George has been a serial entrepreneur, literally, since he was a kid! He went through some hard times but today he owns and administers a wide variety domains and developed Internet businesses from his home base in Kansas City, including his first big web business hit, CasasBaratas.com ("cheap houses" in Spanish) as well as several enterprises build on new gTLDs like Hotels.club.

Kate Buckley
Founder, Buckley Media Group

In 2017, more than ever, there was a realization from the leadership of major consumer-facing companies that a subpar domain or non consumer-resonant extension simply will not cut it. Particularly as many of them cede more and more marketshare to Amazon, and/or the tyranny of Google, they see ultra-premium domains as a way to claw back. And not just to regain ground, put to plant a flag in that ground with an authoritative ultra-premium .com. Which is exactly what Guaranteed Rate has done with their acquisition of rate.com (they are now cleverly branding with rate.com throughout their consumer-facing campaigns—from sponsorships to TV and radio ads to billboards!).  

Not only does this place them first in the minds of the consumer, but we have now seen conclusively that ultra-premium .coms are appreciating assets that add value to their balance sheets and can be liquidated down the road (think: fly.com). Compare and contrast that to pouring money down the gullet of Google, or even traditional media—there may be short-term gains, but arguably little to no lasting impact.  

In the industry overall, I think we’ve seen a loss of confidence in both privacy and escrow services, as well as a real need for independent analysis and due diligence before undergoing any significant transaction.  

Additionally, blockchain technology continued to fascinate as investors speculated profits via IOCs and governments and organizations speculated via applications (think data management and IOT). And, as Raymond Hackney recently reported: “Verisign released their top trending keywords for December. No surprise it was crypto dominated again. Everything in .com was coin/crypto related.” (Think coin, crypto, chain, block, etc.)

Looking ahead to 2018...

I don’t see a lot of fundamental changes for 2018 from 2017 (for my company or category). I see one and two-word premium .COMs continuing to appreciate in value, and the lower value domains (including new TLDs) flattening to depreciating—certainly not emerging on the aftermarket. Consumer-facing companies increasingly appreciate the tangible value of ultra-premium.coms, not only in terms of the bottom line, but in terms of authority principle, social proof, and consumer resonance. That’s not to say there’s not a time and a place for new TLDs (particularly for B2B), but I don’t see them moving the needle in any meaningful fashion for brands. Startups are also investing more and more in premium domain names as they look for more efficient ways to capture marketshare right out of the gate.  

On the tech front, we’re seeing a not unexpected correction in the cryptocurrency market (with an even more severe value correction predicted), but blockchain, of course, is much more than bitcoin. It’s the decentralized ledger technology that tracks bitcoin transactions, and has massive applications and implications that go way beyond the ups and downs for investors—think hardware convergence and broad sweeping social change.  

I think it will be interesting to watch what might happen with the integration of blockchain with domain names. Not only with financing and acquisitions, but as crypto domains themselves increase in value. As Crunchbase reports, “Bitcoin eclipsed ‘cancer’ in worldwide search interest sometime in November 2017.” However, at the current time, I treat all things crypto-related as “racetrack money” (particularly given the recent crash and rampant concerns about regulation and fraud). Great for a long shot, but don’t bet the house. As the dust settles, premium .COMs will still be the most dependable assets and you'll own the real estate.

Andrew Rosener 
CEO, MediaOptions.com

Year in and year out, few domain brokers have been as consistently successful as MediaOptions CEO Andrew Rosener. The only reason you don't see his name far more often on our weekly sales charts is that he deals primarily in the kind of high end domains that come when non disclosure agreements when they change hands. While domains have been his bread and butter, another kind of virtual asset has made him sit up and take notice.