Larry Fischer
Founder
GetYourDomain.com and NFT.net

As the world entered the 2nd year of the Pandemic, online usage has dramatically increased. With that, the demand for short 1-word domains has skyrocketed. In the past year, strategic category leading 1-word domain names such as Marketing.com, Need.com, Home.com, Meta.com, NFT.com and NFT.net have sold, some well into the 8 figures. The two groups of domains names that rose to levels unexpected, were domains in the Meta and NFT categories. The metaverse along with NFT’s are become the fastest growing areas in the evolution of the Internet. Be prepared as these two categories show no sign of slowing down.

I predict that 2022 will be one of the best years ever in aftermarket sales for domain names. In the short term, I see no stopping the increased need and rising prices for generic category domains in the .com, .net and .org space. I expect a lot of domain investors to expand beyond domains into the NFT explosion. During the last year, NFT’s have infiltrated the domain investor space. Several key domainers have become large investors of NFT’s. Some have created their own NFT projects. In addition, there will be further speculation in to blockchain domains. While the chance of success in the long term has its limits for these assets, there seems to be money to burn so anything goes.

Nat Cohen
Founder, Telepathy

2021 was a strong year for Telepathy thanks to solid demand and to domain names moving closer to being properly valued in the marketplace.  It has been a long process for businesses to fully appreciate the lifetime value of the benefits they'll receive from a powerful domain name.  In 2021, the general attitude of businesses towards quality domain names took a big step from "nice to have" to "need to have", with valuations rising accordingly.   

I was surprised at the demand last year for repurposed ccTLDs like .io, .co, .gg, .ai, etc.  Those investors who got in early did extremely well.  Does acquiring domain names in these extensions still represent a good opportunity for investors, or will the action jump to new, currently undiscovered extensions?

The explosive growth in the number of companies focused on cryptocurrencies and NFTs brought new money and demand for domain names - while also seducing many prominent domain investors to shift their focus away from domain names :)

Another positive trend from 2021 was the acceleration of innovative offerings by aftermarket sales platforms, including Dan.com, SquadHelp, 

Efty, GoDaddy and others.  They are addressing a long-standing need in the industry to make it easier for buyers to discover relevant domain names and to reduce the friction in completing an aftermarket purchase.

2022 offers many exciting opportunities.  If we can shake off COVID and return to a sense of normalcy, we should be in a strong economic environment where we can consolidate the increases in domain name valuations that we saw during the pandemic.

This year offers the opportunity to ramp up our advocacy for an update to the outdated Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) so that domain investors are not subject to so many spurious complaints and don't have our assets put at risk of loss due to vague, subjective and obsolete criteria as to what constitutes a bad faith registration.  Domain investors can help the cause by being good citizens, staying away from well-known trademarks, and by voluntarily transferring any "squatty" registrations that were inadvertently registered.  With ICANN's review of the UDRP finally commencing likely later this year or early next year, we have a once in a generation opportunity to place the domain investing industry on a firmer footing by fixing the flaws in the UDRP.

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has quadrupled its membership over the past few years and has grown and strengthened our Board.  Our members are a tremendous resource and we aim to leverage this network by expanding on last year's first ICA-specific in-person meetup with a larger in-person event (if circumstances allow), offering a Discord channel for our members where we can share our knowledge, challenges and successes, and continuing our series of expert webinars and online events with leading members of the industry.

Looking forward to seeing many of you in person this year!

Braden Pollock
Founder
LegalBrandMarketing.com

The domain aftermarket continued to provide robust sales and increased pricing throughout 2021. I've had more inquiries and sales in 2021 than any other year in the past, particularly towards year-end. COVID started this trend mid-2020 and I don't see the market cooling off any time soon. The DNJournal 2021 Top 100 Sales Chart is the highest it's been in many years. It now takes 6-figures to get in the top 100. And let's not forget that most sales, particularly at the high end, are not public. 

The last few years my focus has been on the high end of the market and recently I've noticed end-users increasing their budgets. Thankfully, many buyers are starting to understand the value of premium domains. With so many domain investors also investing in NFTs this past year (myself included), this has created some buying opportunities between investors.  

This last year has seen many new blockchain, crypto, NFT, metaverse and other Web3 companies spring up, using alternative TLD's like .io, .co, .gg, .so, .fi and especially .xyz. This demand has, of course, driven up the price in a few of these extensions. Several years ago, Google's parent company rebranded using Alphabet.xyz. Recently Square rebranded using Block.xyz.

This organic adoption of .xyz by these high profile companies is a boon for the extension and has further fueled it's usage. 

In 2022 crypto and NFT's will continue to be a part of the investment strategy for many domain investors. This will continue to create buying opportunities for those investors not quite as interested in that area of the market. That said, the overall retail domain sales volume will continue to increase along with sale prices.

Last year I anticipated fractional ownership opportunities which have yet to materialize. I suspect that's still coming. I also anticipated more marketplaces rolling out payment plans. BrandBucket did, indeed, launch financing and I suspect GoDaddy will launch this feature in 2022. 

I predict that alt-TLD's will become better known by the general public as Web3 companies continue to adopt them. As such, we may see start-ups leaning towards alt-TLD's to obtain a premium SLD as opposed to choosing a long SLD on the .com. On the other hand, well-funded companies will increase their domain budget to buy the best possible domain they can afford. As I've always said, domains are budget-driven. I don't see that changing. 

I’ve never been more bullish on the domain market.

Andrew Allemann
Founder
DomainNameWire.com

Much happened in 2021 but there are some definite themes. For many domain investors, I think 2021 will be the year we look back to as the point when non-com domains started to sell for high prices in the aftermarket. That's not to say .com isn't still king, it's just that there's proof you can make money investing in new TLDs and other extensions. Exhibit A is Swetha Yenugula, a successful .xyz investor. Coming into 2021 she was already profitable with .xyz, and then it simply exploded during 2021. You can thank emerging trends for some of this. Second level domains including eth or meta have sold in many different extensions. 

Of course, 2021 was also a year of incredible aftermarket domain sales. Comparing the DNJournal chart for 2021 vs. 2020 is breathtaking. All types of assets are selling for a lot more than they used to, but domains are uniquely positioned to take advantage of both asset price appreciation and the move to digital during the pandemic.

When making short term predictions, most people take recent history and project it forward. So it's natural to make predictions about strong domain aftermarket sales, interest in metaverse, blockchain, and NFTs.

I think we'll be talking about these throughout 2022, but a bigger question is if some of the froth in asset markets dissipates. The answer is yes; the harder question is when. I long ago stopped predicting things like stock markets and inflation. But something has to give at some point. I think domains will be relatively safe when this happens because they are a useful asset. The first sign of some of the air being let out might come in the domainer aftermarket. The prices some people are paying for expired domains cannot be sustainable in the long run without a major upshift in resale values or sell-through rates. A reduction in these prices would be a good thing and a healthy sign for the market, not a sign of impending doom.

Chris Zuiker
COO, MediaOptions.com

Last year (2021) was an amazing year for the understanding of the value of domain names to branding, marketing and scaling. Media Options works with all tiers of the business community, including start-up incubators (self funded, first few rounds, and fully funded), legacy brands, and the Fortune 500 companies.  The most significant trend we experienced was the shift in the global view of domain names from being a "nice to have" to a "need to have".  This was being driven by the VC/PE investors looking to protect their investment and scale their businesses.  

This trend was coupled with the major shift of every company going either fully online or a larger part of their revenue moving online.  What this meant is that our acquisition business doubled from the previous year.  Domain names are being viewed as an asset, not a liability.  This is profound because it raises the floor price for premium domain names.  In my opinion, this is the best thing to happen to our industry because it is a sustainable factor for future growth versus previous bubbles.  This paradigm shift brings the sales prices closer to the true value of domain names.  

Another smaller trend was the focus of brands and companies on country-code domains and new gTLDs.  Some good examples were the rebrands of Spiral.xyz and Block.xyz.  While the raw version of the (.com) will always be king, it does open up the market for new domain extensions.  This was a small shift but one for investors to consider for the future.

We also experienced a rapid escalation in specific trending verticals.  The most obvious were the NFT and Metaverse trends.  As with many trends, I would advise to make sure to capture this one while it is hot.

From a business perspective, 2021 was the best year in our company’s history.  In 2020 we had the start of the paradigm shift, but 2021 was the acceleration of the trends and signals we have been picking up on and pondering for the last decade.  This past year will be seen as the hardening where digital real estate solidified it’s absorption of the "brick and mortar" market.

2022 is going to be another great year for domain names.  I see this being heavily weighted in the first two quarters.  There is still a lot of money looking for a home, but also storm clouds on the horizon. However, we do not believe that from an economic, social or even political standpoint we will see much “relief” from the Covid blanket.  There is still too much uncertainty around lockdowns, supply chains, and the global economy.  This is why we believe the first half of the year will be stronger than the back half.

Two of the sharpest people in the domain brokerage business, Media Options Founder Andrew Rosener (left) and Head of Sales and Marketing Chris Zuiker at NamesCon Global (2019) in Las Vegas.

2021 saw a slew of high tech IPO’s that will likely continue into early 2022. The biggest winner there is the venture capital market. Despite what anyone may say, the biggest driver of the domain name market, or better domain name prices, is venture capital. As venture capital goes, so do domain names. There is a flood of liquidity in the VC market and more to come. They have a mandate to reinvest that capital and that means more and bigger funding rounds for startups.  From what I can tell, $1 million is the new $100,000 and $1 Billion is the new $1 Million. That means more domain name sales and likely materially higher values as more demand chases less supply of premium domains.

Lastly, .COM will accelerate fastest but as prices increase rapidly, lease options and lease-to-own models will become the norm as opposed to the outlier, and large portfolio owners will begin treating their names more like venture capital than assets to be sold. At the fringe, those who are not savvy enough to take advantage of these cashflow-advantaged lease models for premium .com domains will likely adopt lesser domain extensions.

Joe Uddeme
Domain Expert & Principal
NameExperts.com

Historically speaking, domain names has always had two components. The investor, and the End-user. In 2021, there was a huge influx of dollars and investments going into cryptocurrency, and more so, into NFTs. Many domain investors began trading in NFTs and digital art. This has greatly increased the amount of money that has been re-purposed from domain name investments, to additional NFTs. This escalated considerably in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2021. It continues to be a dominant factor for domain investors. Domain investors continued to look for deals and names that would ultimately, increase in value.

The End-user is unaffected by the alternative investments in NFTs. Domain end-users continued to acquire their brands defensive domain names, or shortened their existing brand. There has been a steady increase in the new acquisition requests for alternatives to .com. The most popular, cost-effective alternatives have shown considerable increase in .co, .io, and .ai. Additionally, brands are continually taking their long-tail .com and shortening to something that’s easy to remember and spell. .COM continued to outpace all other TLDs with the average price increasing considerably across the board for all single word, generic .com domains, as well as a nice uptick for two-word (commerce-driven) .coms. 

2021 proved to be an incredible year—even with the challenges of the Pandemic, as well as investors looking for other avenues to grow their assets. The explosion of NFTs has limited the amount of investor money that typically flows into the liquid domain name market. This proved to be the single largest impact on the liquidity of domain names—in general. 

There’s no reason to expect a downturn in investors turning to alternative investments. NFTS and Crypto will continue to eat into the investor market. End-user acquisitions should continue in earnest with new acquisition starts currently pointing up. Brands will continue acquiring domains that fill an immediate need; either from a defensive strategy, or emerging startups. Both single word, and two-word .coms will continue to dominate the landscape. Alternative TLDS such as .io, .co, and .ai will continue to gain popularity with users looking for a reasonable, cost-effective alternative to the .com. Additionally, expect to see a steady increase in .xyz and alternative extensions related to crypto, but not currently controlled on the DNS registry system. .ETH, .Crypto, .NFT and .Wallet hold relevance with the sales-pitch of no renewal fees ever.

Now more than ever, a qualified domain name expert, or broker should always be used to help navigate the intricate World of the Aftermarket. 2022 should continue to see growth in acquisitions. The biggest challenge facing the domain name industry at-large, is with the Whois system, and the redacted contact data due to privacy concerns and GDPR.

Strong sales should continue with Brands racing to strengthen their online presence in the wake of the ongoing Pandemic. We look forward to helping clients acquire, and divest their premium domain name, digital real estate. 

Andrew Miller
Founder & President
ATM Holdings, Inc.

I have been deeply involved in all aspects of domain name assets since 1997, as a Founder/CEO, investor, and advisor on many of the most significant buy and sell side deals, and 2021 was a landmark year in the history of both domains and emerging digital assets. While many domain industry experts will make an argument, valid in many ways, that 2021 was a marquee year for secondary TLD's, all those other than .com, I see it as the year that the premium, generic .com domains reached the next level of acceptance and value as an asset class. There have been flashes of this at other times over the years, especially in the late 1990's, but in 2021, premium .com acquisitions were closing at the pace of several a week, and the buyers were end users that were already market leaders or emerging ones.

It was almost automatic that a company that closed a major funding round, a Series A or D, would inevitably announce the acquisition of their exact match category .com domain name shortly thereafter. While other companies decided to "spend down" to buy an .io or .xyz, many of the .com deals were companies then upgrading to .com when they had the capital and opportunity to do so. I have said this many times before, and will continue to. The more a company spends 

marketing dollars and clout on a non .com, the more traffic, revenue, and customers they will send to the .com. Best case it's lost or delayed business, and worst case it feeds a competitor.

If you spend one week absorbing media; prime time television, billboards as you drive on the highway, print, radio, you will see almost exclusively .com, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising further cementing the .com as part of the brand. Without naming the company I recently helped a very large, fast growing company using .io, acquire their .com, and in the process, discovered over 50 confidential emails sent by the acquirer's senior management to other inside management using the .com email even though it was not their domain. Why? The .com is embedded in the landscape and mindshare. 

For ATM Holdings, 2021 was highlighted by three of the largest dollar domain transactions I have overseen, in all cases movers and shakers that were leveraging the domain asset to get to their next level. The most unexpected trend for me is easy, and is likely shared by many of my domain peers. I have been studying the coming of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT's) for a while, so I am positioned to be an early adapter and expert in the same way as I have been with domains. However, I could not have ever imagined how the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT I acquired could have such a material impact on my business, my already strong network, my life, and as a stand alone investment, and I believe it is the "Amazon of NFT's, still so very early". I covered this in my stories for Decrypt.

Image from Bigstock

I am  excited for 2022, but I also envision there will be some corrections in the public markets, as well as digital assets. With that said, and reiterating the theme above, the bluest of blue chips will hold their value better than 99 percent of assets in domains and NFT's. Yes, this means premium .com domains will be strengthened while secondary domains will stumble, and in some cases cease to exist, and Bored Ape Yacht Club will flourish, while a large portion of the NFT projects that came to market without much substance will be wiped out in the same way Internet companies were in the bubble burst of 2000. 

We are entering the most exciting time in technology since the dawn of ecommerce. We can call it web 3.0, or the Metaverse, but those are fancy names for a fundamental shift in the way companies and people transact, engage, and go about their daily lives. Convergence of the Internet and Television is finally here, NFTs will replace tickets, clubs, and memberships, crypto currencies will start to replace fiat in mainstream applications, and even space travel and virtual reality is closer (but still a ways away).  New age consumer goods companies such as Thrasio (full disclosure I am an investor) will become the "web 3.0 Procter and Gamble", and technology will develop faster than it ever has, applied across all categories of life, including healthcare, entertainment, and shopping. Premium .com domain names will be the address and anchor to it all, the address by which you go from metaverse place A to metaverse place B, and any talk of that becoming obsolete, as it has been so many times for so many years, will continue to be simply noise. 

Ryan McKegney
CEO, DomainAgents.com

In 2021 the industry as a whole continued to see the impact of the mass move of business online. At DomainAgents, we saw the average domain sale price up 25%. It was easily the best year in our history and the momentum seems like it will continue into 2022.

Domains are the vanguard of the adoption of digital assets.  While NFTs and the metaverse still have to prove themselves, domains have proven value and a 30 year track record of utility and appreciation. Much of what we see of web3 in 2022 will likely be more foundational than revolutionary.  Hopefully by the end of the year we will have a better idea of whether domain based DAOs and alt roots will be viable.

Much like the past two years, we could see a high degree of volatility in the world and the economy as a whole. Covid doesn't seem to be done with us yet and inflation is on everyone's mind. This instability perhaps makes domains more attractive though. While other digital assets may be more 'exciting', domains may prove to be a safe haven for companies and investors. Whatever happens, DomainAgents will help buyers and sellers navigate what comes next.

Jeff Gabriel and Amanda Waltz
Co-Founders, SAW.com

After another year like no other, it would be difficult to reject the increasing transition many companies were forced to continue to bring businesses entirely online due to in-person restrictions around the pandemic. We believe this is just one of the key drivers in the sustained growth of Domain Aftermarket. 2021 exceeded our expectations and will be remembered as a year we capitalized on many of the emerging industries “living” on the blockchain. 

The funding for companies in both Crypto and NFT space led us to achieve success for many clients who sought an exact killer match .com domain to bring their brand to life. Additionally, one of the higher areas of growth for our team has been helping upgrade to their exact match .com, which has lead us to such sales as (to name just a few): Ai.com, Candy.com, Virtual.com, Alloy.com and Experience.com.

Today’s consumers are drawn to authenticity and trust in branding, especially online. Brands are seeking the most direct path to engaging with their consumer and prospective customer base. Companies should make this easy for their brand loyalists as well as their prospective customers. We saw this in both 2020 and 2021, and expect this to continue into 2022. Of course, with the prediction of this pandemic becoming endemic in April of 2022 we expect people to reestablish their new normal. We expect high growth areas for travel, consumer goods, and also live and interactive experiences.  

Companies in the previously mentioned sectors will need to continue to drive both traffic and brand awareness to help fuel their growth and stand out from their competition. 

These sectors will be poised to experience new brand creation and will need their online identity to reflect this. Some will continue to put massive budgets into creating this identity by purchasing their exact match.com, as the data shows us with .com continuing to be the most popular and valuable with 158 million .com domain names currently registered.

Or if the .com is truly unattainable for them choose one of the extensions we have seen growing in popularity and dollar volume such as .ai, .vip, .law, .io, .co, .tv and even .gg. In four of those extensions, we have completed sales that the sale prices were higher than the highest reported sales.    

George Hong
Founder & CEO
Guta.com

In 2021, end-user domain name sales continued the boom of 2020. According to DN Journal's 2021 Top 100 Domain Sales chart, End-users acquired a significant percentage of domain names. Eight out of the top ten domain names, such as Hippo.com, Floor.com, and Exodus.com, are actively used by end-users from various industries, including the crypto industry. 2021 was a blockbuster year for the crypto space, led by buzzwords like Metaverse, NFTs, GameFi, Scaling solutions, and more.

Crypto companies have spent significant amounts of money buying domain names and marketing campaigns to promote their brands. Take Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency platform, as an example. Crypto.com has been on a spending spree across the global sports landscape over the past year. Crypto.com reportedly signed a $700 million deal to rename Staples Center, the downtown Los Angeles home of the NBA's Lakers and Clippers, to Crypto.com Arena. This kind of high-visibility sponsorship deal helps educate the mass about the value and importance of domain names.

Many domain investors have switched or diversified their investments into the crypto space. Some found that trading NFTs and cryptocurrencies give them a better investment return in a shorter timeframe.

In 2021, Guta helped corporate clients and brand service companies acquire more domain names than we did in any prior year. Evolvement and Innovations in the crypto areas, such as NFT, DAO, and Web3, will continue to drive the demand for relevant domain names and provide new investment opportunities. By following the trends closely, domain investors can identify new keywords before they become hot and register or buy corresponding domain names at relatively low prices.

Experienced domain investors have an advantage in investing the new crypto opportunities directly.

Take NFT investment as an example. Each NFT is unique, just like domain names. There are many similarities between investing in domain names and NFTs. It is not a coincidence that some domain industry professionals have done pretty well trading NFTs, especially PFP (Profile Picture) NFTs.

Tessa Holcomb
Co-Founder & CEO
DomainAdvisors.com

If the last few years has taught us anything, it’s not only how important it is to be able to conduct day to daily activities online, but how crucial it is to set ourselves apart from our competition. More companies than ever are realizing that owning the best domain possible in your industry not only helps you build instant credibility but makes it easier for your clients to find you and, most importantly, for potential clients to choose you.

As much of a rollercoaster as 2020 was, 2021 took things to a new level. While the number of seven-figure domain sales in 2021 blew away previous years, the potential for many more was, and still is, on the table. Budgets are greatly increasing but nowhere nearly as fast as expectations. As alternative investments elicit higher returns, and interest rates remain low, motivation to sell higher end domain names decreases. Offers are coming in higher and more frequently than ever for strong brandables and across very specific, competitive verticals including finance, healthcare, online gambling and, of course, the crypto and blockchain verticals. The competition and lack of motivation to sell has been pushing up prices and I only see this continuing.

Cash + equity plays are on the rise and will continue to be attractive to both buyers and sellers. Cash alone doesn’t have the potential to produce the returns that smart equity trades do and more and more sellers are prioritizing deals including at least some equity in a promising business. As a broker, it’s like a puzzle matching the best buyer willing to part with valuable equity, to a domain owner who happens to have a name they want and sees potential in their business model. Along those lines, while it had previously been taboo to introduce the buyer and seller prior to coming to an agreement on price; it is now becoming more commonplace, and even constructive, but only when equity is at play.

What interest rates do in 2022 will have an impact on the domain market. Cash has been cheap, making spending decisions that much easier for both companies and individuals. As interest rates creep up, spending will slow, and prices could come down. Either way, I’m confident about another strong sales year and hope to celebrate our successes together, in-person, before year’s end. Here’s to health, happiness and prosperity in 2022!

Mark Ghoriafi, Founder

Another day, another dime, another dollar, another year in domaining paradise. I am Mark Ghoriafi, the Founder of MrPremium.com, a record-breaking domains brokerage, headquartered in the sun, sand, and sea of South Florida, although 2021 proved to be a sunshine filled year for the entire domains industry in what may be the most successful year of publicly reported sales ever!

I entered into the glorious world of domaining on the gTLD side of outbound domain sales, working in Managerial and Director roles at the .CLUB domains registry, the .GLOBAL registry, and with Afilias overseeing 20+ domain extensions. In each role I successfully advanced the selling of premium domains, achieving millions of dollars in gTLD sales, and set new industry and registry records for .Bet .Bio .Black .Club .Global .Mobi and .Poker.

During my time at Afilias, I was introduced to .io domains (Afilias were the backend operator for the .io extension), and it was as if I locked eyes with a beautiful lady across the room, knowing the horizons ahead together would be one of harmonizing happiness, and sure enough, I was right.

My brokerage firm; MrPremium.com, is now a global-leader for the .io extension with near $1 Million in .io names sold the past year (multiple millions in total domain sales), helping create new paths and contributing to advancing directions for the .io market. .io has been on a steady rise the past few years, but the entire market saw a surge of sales in 2021, substantially superseding any previous year. To give more clarity, looking at the reported Top 100 .io domain sales, we can see:

8 are from 2017
9 are from 2018
9 are from 2019
13 are from 2020
48 are from 2021
(Source: Namebio)

This means that nearly half of the all-time top 100 .io sales come from last year alone.