Bitcoin Forum

Mark Karpeles?  (current owner of MtGox)

http://www.whois.net/whois/bitcoins.com
http://www.who.is/domain-history/bitcoins.com

EDIT: Looks like I read it incorrectly.  It's infinitely more likely that Mark is just registered as the current owner, where the domain was created long ago by some other opportunist from years past who had no idea that bitcoin would be what it is today. 

Nothing crazy, just curious. 

This reminds me of the end of the movie contact,

"Rachel Constantine: The fact that it recorded static isn't what interests me.
Michael Kitz: [pauses] Continue.
Rachel Constantine: What interests me is that it recorded approximately eighteen hours of it.
Michael Kitz: [leans forward so he is looking directly in the camera] That is interesting, isn't it?"

People everyday buy mass amount of names depending on what they believe it may be worth in the future.

The term "bit" and "coin" is very common.

It only makes sense someone bought the domain name bitcoins during the internet boom.

Once Bitcoins became what we know today, any domain name that contained "bitcoin" and similar increased value.

The domain was spotted on the waybackmachine back in 2008 it looks like, being parked by GoDaddy which is a common trait for people who buy domains to speculate future events.

wut?

Here you can see this happy speculator of buying mass domains in 2000+ is happy to see something hit.

July 17th 2011

http://web.archive.org/web/20110717063635/http://www.bitcoins.com/

BitCoins "for dummies" (as myself)
Etiquetas: BitCoin Bitcoins new
"BitCoin is a digital currency generated and earned by any PC, connected into the bitcoin network, that guesses an "almost impossible" code. Then, you can buy goods or trade them for cash. People trust in BitCoins because they are "inviolable", "unforgeable", and with "no government manipulation".

Notice how he states "BitCoin".

"Believing in them since 1998"  :o

It's not clear from those sites if Karpales was the original creator of the domain, or if his contact info is only on there as a result of his having purchased the domain in 2013 (those records say "updated 2013").  I'd say the latter is much more likely.

Here is another interesting one:

http://web.archive.org/web/20111229175120/http://www.bitcoins.com/

BTC at $3

Yeah. Except it wasn't bought by 'someone', but by Mark Karpeles.

Actually it is VERY clear MtGox wasn't the original owner. Endless amount of records online.

Yeah it indeed was bought.

That would explain it.  "believing in them since 1998" is quite strange however.

We don't seem to know who owned the domain before him.  Is there a way to get historical whois info

Domaintools.com has a history tool - but it is paid.  In all likelihood it was a private registration anyway, and if so, it won't show much.  :-)  If it really matters to someone, it is worth the money.

iirc, it only goes back to around 1995 so it doesn't capture a good amount of information, but it is still useful and should cover these names.

It was actually Narydu (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=21434), who also happens to be Donator number 1:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=102118

Someone had to come up with a name for this technology/currency system, so it makes sense that before releasing the technology with a proposed name, that one would register the domain.

Someone could have suggested it be called Zitcoin and then we would be talking about zitcoins.com

But I still don't believe the domain was originally registered by anyone who knew what Bitcoin would become.

The domain has simply transferred owners many times.

LOL @ zitcoins

Seriously though, bitcoins.com was probably originally bought amongst a lot of other domain names in the hope that some of them could be worth much more than they were bought for someday.  I definitely don't think the purchaser in 2000 knew what bitcoin would become, and probably thought more that maybe it could be a possible name for a money news or exchange site, or much of anything else that bitcoins could have implied back then.  Or maybe it was just a couple of words that were thrown together by someone while thinking of domain name ideas, and it sounded catchy enough.

Why don't you simply read? ::)

The story of bitcoins.com is right here:

link not working

99% of this forum does not have access to this thread/section. Not a donator.

Oops, didn't notice  :o

It was actually Narydu (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=21434), who auctioned the domain in 2011:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=30786

hello,
the link was about the bidding for sale of bitcoins.com
but who created it back then 2000 !??
just for the record.

Me want donate.  Gain access, secret club.  How how?

It's 10BTC for Donator status and 50BTC for VIP Donator status

You need to click on "donate" in the top menu

Narydu registered the domain in 2000 for his own project back then.
It had nothing to do with the Bitcoin of today, obviously.
When "our" Bitcoin gained popularity in 2011, he received a lot of offers for the domain name.
Being a nice guy, he didn't simply sell to the highest bidder, but to Mark Karpeles of MtGox for whoknowshowmuch.

More details are only available for Donators and VIPs 8)