Bitcoin Forum

Why do so many coins use a .io domain? Are they cheap or something?

I often wondered the same thing. I think it is more common with tech themed websites but I don't know the root cause.

https://blog.name.com/business/2013/10/why-are-startups-turning-to-io/

I may think if this can become the answer for us. But IMO it doesn't has a high accuracy.

I think because of almost all of digital coins use .io domain for business in digital coins or related with it,
And i think if the domain .io more cheap than other domain, maybe it is become other reasons for choose domain .io it is mean save capital for build business on digital coins.
But it is just my speculation because i don't have website with .io domain and i don't know how much the price of domain .io if be compared with other domain.

It's just a hipster thing I think

Most definitely because of input/output

a more interesting question would be a rorschach test to see what percentage of folks here are nerdy enough to associate with that answer

.io is just 'hipster' of domains.

These domains are expensive, and a pain in the arse to deal with compared to .com and other TLDs.

Those are the reasons I registered some .io domains. I will add that .io has a digital (or all electronic) connotation that stands out from .com which can include brick & mortar businesses.

But for my project I opted for a .us domain (for which I paid ~$325 in August including a year renewal), because the .io and .org weren't available, the .net is asking $10,000 and my project is to be a social network (a la steem.io / steemit.com), so the "us" applies to all of us. I am still hoping to attain the .com (or .org which appears to not be for sale) later which was formerly used but is now registered yet unused by a major company because it was involved in a buyout in 2015.


Which is why I think .us is better for domain targeting the masses. And .com would be even better. I was happy with my name choice, because I know no troublemakers in this ecosystem could afford to buy the .com (as Roger Ver did (http://www.coindesk.com/roger-ver-and-okcoin-at-war-over-bitcoin-com-domain-name/) obtaining bitcoin.com). Only if the project becomes very successful, can the .com be purchased later.

Rather than obtaining .com immediately as steemit.com did, I decided it was more important to choose a name which is brandable, short, and has the intended meaning in the minds of most people. My 5 letter choice for a name, fits very well those requirements. My name choice is superior (which IMO is of the naming quality of a Twitter) to Ark, Steemit, and Synereo. Yours is a brandable name which seems to have mainstream appeal for a social network, but it doesn't really speak to what is unique about the project compared to other social networks. Ark (ark.io) has the advantage of being a name that is very short and easy to spell and speak, but its applicability to a social network is IMO dubious. Okay I understand we all need to board the ark, but why board it? Better names speak to what the products does which the user needs or wants, e.g. tweeting on Twitter. We see the photos of our friends' (faces) on Facebook. MySpace was a personalizable social network profile page. Friendster was where we went to connect with friends and FoF (friends-of-friends). My CoolPage was where a million users (in 2001!) went to make their own webpage with wysiwyg, drag+drop ease and 1-click free publishing.


They can be registered for $33. I registered some for $20 on sale.

OK, interesting to read.

Ive read a bit as mentioned on startups using them, but I/O (Input/Output) did also cross my mind.

No these domains are not expensive as on namecheap I can see their price is $0.88 and that is easily affordable by any person. I don't know about other registrars maybe it will be at high price on these places.

Maybe because all good .com and .net are taken and .io is short and still many names available.Not just coins but many tech related companies are after .io domains.https://www.name.com/domains/io (https://www.name.com/domains/io) is a bit of information nicely sums up the few things about .io domains

The British Indian Ocean Territory, is a strange legal entity. No courts , no lawyers.
This could make lawsuits difficult.

but exchanger and early launch open cloud mining this real mining
and base in england country cex.io use domain io too

i think the reason not about legal intity and bout no lawyers
because can detection location use server hosting not domain
about domain tools name location can manipulation , but server can't manipulation

It cost ~$60 last year, must have fallen a lot now!

EDIT: I checked, it's not 88 cents, more like $30.

Another domain that is nice to use for altcoin projects is the ".in" domains. So you can have a domain name like this "www.xco.in".