[2019-02-20] Google Registers Bitcoin.dev as New Domain TLD Goes Public

[tyz]

Google Registers Bitcoin.dev as New Domain TLD Goes Public

If you were eyeing ownership of bitcoin.dev while waiting for Google to release the new TLD officially, that chance is long gone. A redditor with the name “salsa-system” posted a couple of hours ago that Google has registered both the bitcoin.dev and blockchain.dev domains on Tuesday (February 19, 2019).

https://bitcoinist.com/google-registers-bitcoin-dev/

[o_e_l_e_o]

So this story is almost completely wrong.

This news means that someone splashed $12,500 to lock down the .dev domain for the top-ranked cryptocurrency.

That's not what happened at all. Google own the ".dev" generic top-level domain, and recently released them for sale in early-access, which you can see here: https://domains.google/tld/dev/. If you search for "bitcoin.dev", you can see it comes up unavailable, which the writer of this article has assumed meant someone has purchased it. However, as you can see if you go to the Whois page for "bitcoin.dev", it is registered to Google. Whether that means Google have withheld it for their own use, or have just withheld it from sale for the time being, I don't know.

Looks like namecheap.com bought btc.dev for $3,500. Wonder how much the resale value will be?

[BitHodler]

Looks like namecheap.com bought btc.dev for $3,500. Wonder how much the resale value will be?

I'm not sure if it's actually Namecheap itself that bought this domain. It could very well be Namecheap registering that domain on behalf of their client due to their position within the domain space.

If it's Namecheap itself, then you can expect $100k to be somewhat of a top. I have been searching for Bitcoin or btc domains on Namecheap, and so far non has been listed for sale above the $100k mark.

Namecheap knows these Bitcoin domains are worth a ton, and that there might be an entity willing to go balls deep to get it, even if every additional year of registration costs like $1k.

[buwaytress]

Can't really comment confidently as I'm not entirely sure how all this works. Always been highly centralised and sometimes shady, leading to pretty insane domain flipping.

See, if Google were owners of .dev, shouldn't they not be allowed to book public domain names like Bitcoin before anyone can even try? I know it is pretty much first come with funds, first served, anyway. Maybe this backfires on Google like .com will for Ver, if the attempt is to mislead.

[1Referee]

See, if Google were owners of .dev, shouldn't they not be allowed to book public domain names like Bitcoin before anyone can even try?

They can, but I'm not sure if there is much to gain here by doing so. .dev isn't exactly a gTLD to go nuts over.

In some cases these domains can be useful and actually quite powerful (lightning.network being the best utilized crypto related gTLD I know of), but the far majority of these shitty .whatever domains are cluttering the market, and as is the case with altcoins, plenty of hype, very little to no utility.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I'm not sure if it's actually Namecheap itself that bought this domain. It could very well be Namecheap registering that domain on behalf of their client due to their position within the domain space.

I think you might be right. "btc.dev" is listed as "taken" on namecheap.com, which you can see here: https://www.namecheap.com/domains/registration/results.aspx?domain=btc.dev.

Some other "btc" sites they have listed are btc.finance for $53,750, btc.sale and btc.credit for $26,875, and btc.loan for $13,000. So yeah, given those prices I think $50-100,000 is probably an accurate estimate, but as you say, it looks like someone has registered it already.

See, if Google were owners of .dev, shouldn't they not be allowed to book public domain names like Bitcoin before anyone can even try?

I think you are right, if they are withholding it for their own use. Which would mean they have withheld it for another reason? Maybe someone put in a preemptive bid before the presale opened?

[LeGaulois]

I was surprised while reading the title, and wondered what Google plans to do with the domain name. Just fake news. Look like Fox News or CNN created an account in Bitcointalk 
The person/company owning this domain will make a good profit that's for sure.

@o_e_l_e_o
How did you come to suppose Namecheap?

[o_e_l_e_o]

@o_e_l_e_o
How did you come to suppose Namecheap?

If you go to Google's .dev early access sales page (https://domains.google/tld/dev/), you can search for "btc.dev". It comes up as "unavailable" and if you click the Whois page link (the little image of two people at the right hand side), you can see the following details:

Domain Name: btc.dev
Registry Domain ID: 31E819304-DEV
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.registry.google
Registrar URL: https://www.namecheap.com/
Updated Date: 2019-02-20T20:50:16Z
Creation Date: 2019-02-20T20:50:04Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2020-02-20T20:50:04Z
Registrar: Namecheap Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 1068
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@namecheap.com

[magneto]

I definitely wouldn't jump to conclusions here and say that google's attitude towards bitcoin is all of a sudden changing.

They simply have this domain in the possession, for whatever reason. It could be possible that they just see resale value in terms of passing it off to the next buyer for a much better price than normal registration fees. It could also have already been reserved by someone, although that's just my speculation and could be completely wrong.

It's really probably going to turn out to be just a normal, business decision as opposed to anything that they're trying to get across to the market. But yes, it could certainly be used for good given the quality of the domain, if someone ever obtains it.

[davis196]

Google Registers Bitcoin.dev as New Domain TLD Goes Public

If you were eyeing ownership of bitcoin.dev while waiting for Google to release the new TLD officially, that chance is long gone. A redditor with the name “salsa-system” posted a couple of hours ago that Google has registered both the bitcoin.dev and blockchain.dev domains on Tuesday (February 19, 2019).

https://bitcoinist.com/google-registers-bitcoin-dev/

Domain trading is a crazy business.Why would a .dev domain cost so much?The most valuable domains are .com,.org and .io,I don't see the point of domains like bitcoin.dev and btc.loan.The average crypto user won't most likely run away from such domains,because don't seem trustworthy.

[BitHodler]

Domain trading is a crazy business.Why would a .dev domain cost so much?The most valuable domains are .com,.org and .io,I don't see the point of domains like bitcoin.dev and btc.loan.The average crypto user won't most likely run away from such domains,because don't seem trustworthy.

These specific domains are very short, that's what makes them attractive. A few examples here:

bitcoindev.com vs bitcoin.dev
bitcoinexchange.com vs bitcoin.exchange
bitcoinloan.com vs bitcoin.loan

In most cases these specific domains are way cheaper as well. .COMs are going for millions depending on the domain, while most of these specific domains well under the $100k mark.

Overall, domain trading is quite a shitty business to be in. People ask too much for certain domains while they only appeal to those who are looking to actually utilize it and have it become a brand.