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analysis What Is Happening With ETH Domain Names Now?

Spaceship Spaceship
The second half of 2021 saw eye-popping sales in exact ETH domain names, even in extensions with few significant prior sales. In this article, I take a look at the current status of those domain names, recent ETH name sales data, and how investors are currently pricing their ETH domain names. Just to be clear, this article is about sales of the exact term 'ETH' in the centralized naming system, not about sales of decentralized .eth extension names.

Big ETH Sales in 2021

Even if we restrict ourselves to sales listed in NameBio, 2021 saw many impressive ETH sales.

In May 2021 the exact term ETH sold in the .co extension for $300,000, perhaps not that surprising, since a few years earlier ETH.com sold for $2 million.

The sale of eth.club at $200,000 in mid-September of 2021, the second highest sale ever in the extension, signalled strong demand for ETH domain names.

Later that month eth.website sold for $50,000, a factor of 25x the highest previous sale in that extension.

In the closing months of 2021, the exact term ETH sold at prices of $20,000 plus in a variety of TLDs including .Paris, .cm, .gg, .green, .black, and .pink. In many cases these were the highest-value sale ever in that extension.

The average sales price for exact ETH names in 2021 was $41,400, at least for sales listed on NameBio.

See the full list of exact ETH sales at this NameBio link.

What Triggered the Interest?

ETH is the standard symbol for Ethereum. In their own words:
Ethereum is the community-run technology powering the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of decentralized applications.

Most view ETH as central to Web3.

The advertiser stats for the term ETH are 165,000 monthly exact global searches, with a cost-per-click of $1.45.

The OpenCorporates site has 1039 active business and organization listings for the term ‘eth’.

While it is easy to see that ETH.anything would be an easily remembered name, one that could be associated with the positive features of Web3, is there more than that to the gold rush to secure exact ETH domain names?

After all, decentralized systems might seek ENS domains or handshake domains.

I urge readers to contribute to the discussion on why they think demand for the exact term ETH, no matter the extension, is so strong.

How Are ETH Names Being Used?

There were 25 sales in 2021 of exact ETH domain names at prices of $2500 or more. I tried to visit those sites, with results below.

Image-Sales-CurrentUse.png

It turns out that 44% are not in use, in many cases they are still pointed to the marketplace where the name sold.

Only 3 of the sites were developed the day I checked, with 2 more used for redirection, and 1 with a ‘coming soon’ placeholder.

I found that 4 of the names with a significant prior sale were actively listed for sale again.

What About All ETH Domain Names?

The term ETH is one of the most registered. The day I checked, a couple of weeks ago, the term ETH is, according to dotDB, registered in 604 extensions.

For each of those 604 names, I tried to visit the associated website. The results are shown below.

Image-CurrentUse.png

Since this is from all registered exact ETH names, it is not a surprise that 30.3%, 183 names, are actively listed for sale. Many other names, 26.2%, had a parking site. When it was clear that a name was actively for sale, even if the lander was parking, I listed it under ‘for sale’. Nevertheless, many of the sites listed as ‘parking’ are probably actually for sale, therefore the percentage listed for sale is probably lower than true value.

There were 67 of the ETH names developed, and another 16 were redirected. Some of those redirected to the main Afternic marketplace, so probably are just old DNS settings unchanged by new owner.

It is perhaps surprising that 27.2%, 164 names, were not in use at all – no site or redirection, no parking, no sales lander. It is possible that these are being held for future development, or defensive purchases, or until prices rise. Among the names not in use at time of writing was ETH.com.

Interestingly, a few of the names went to a page saying that they were banned.

While we associate ETH most clearly with Ethereum, that is not how all of the names are being used. A few were to networking sites, drawing on the ethernet connection. The name eth.beauty redirects to EtherealBeauty.com, a vegan cosmetic products company.

While I did not explore that list, in addition to the 604 exact ETH names registered, there are according to dotDB more than 1.2 million domain names that include ‘eth’ as part of a longer name.

Are ETH Names Still Selling in 2022?

The simple answer is yes, although not at prices as high as in late 2021. At time of writing, there have been 17 exact ETH sales listed on NameBio during first 6 months of 2022, with an average price of $2480.

The highest price so far in 2022 is ETH.vc, that sold for $12,250. ETH has sold for $2000 or more during the first half of 2022 in extensions including .faith, .attorney, voyage and .photos. In most cases, these sales were the highest ever sale in the TLD.

You can see the full list of 2022 NameBio-listed ETH sales here. That link will update with new sales, so there may be more than 17 on the day you check.

If we compare with 2021, the rate of ETH sales is up in 2022 (in 2021 there were 23 ETH exact sales in the full year), but the average price is down significantly, just $2480 compared to the $41,400 average in 2021.

I know of other reliable ETH domain sales reports from 2022, but I only included those that were verified by NameBio in this analysis.

How Are Investors Pricing ETH Names?

I used Dofo Advanced Search to see how investors were currently pricing ETH exact names. While a number were listed as ‘make offer’, the following graph shows the breakdown for those with buy-it-now pricing.
Image-ETH-Prices-Dofo.png

The majority seem to be holding out for the sales prices we saw late in 2021. Just over one-quarter are priced between $20,000 and $49,999, and another 18% from $50,000 to $99,999. A very common price was $50,000.

Final Thoughts

We covered Finding Technology Trends and Opportunities in the NamePros Blog last year. It includes sites, tools and tips for getting in early on trends.

@MadAboutDomains recently started a valuable NamePros discussion Domain Trends: Hype Then and Now. He urges analysis of past trends, asking questions such as what triggered the trend, and what was the ultimate fate. The framework he suggests can be applied to any trend.

No doubt many domain investors have done very well in the ETH, and other recent, domain name trends. The NamePros Blog interviewed Deninis Tinerino, Domain Smoke, after his big ETH.Paris sale.

Of course for every trend that ends up being lucrative for domain name investors, many others never take off. In 2020 the NamePros Blog considered evaluating trends as domain investments in the article Catching Trains and Avoiding Train Wrecks.

I urge readers to share their views on ETH domain names, and more generally on trending domain name investments.


Thanks to Namebio, DotDB, OpenCorporates, and Dofo, valuable tools used in this analysis.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
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How many of these are legit operations, Bob?
I only included sales that went through the NameBio sales verification process. In a number of cases they also were listed in DNJournal. In quite a few I know the sellers who are well-known and respected within the domain community.

While no verification system is perfect, I don't doubt the sales. What is less clear to me is who really did the buying, and why. I think some was impulsive buying, seeing everyone talking ethereum and web3 in late 2021. Some were for resale, including some of the big ones. Others, less clear. Some of the developed were in use by ways I did not expect.

It does not change the fact that by dollar volume most sales are .com (of course the vast majority of investor inventory and names listed for sale are also in .com).

Thanks for your comments.

Bob

PS I may have misunderstood your question. How many of the developed sites are trusted operations is not something I tried to evaluate. I applied same as when I looked at major .com, .org, .xyz etc. for previous similar analyses - I visited the sites and if they had a working site that was more than a splash screen I counted them as developed. Any that had no site or a site that gave a Chrome warning I regarded as not operational.
 
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good luck with “.eth”! or other obscure exts!
Just to make sure this does not cause confusion, the article is an analysis of the exact term 'eth' that sold in various TLDs within the ICANN and country code centralized systems. It is not an article on the .eth decentralized domain extension. Which would be an interesting, but different, topic.
 
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Just to make sure this does not cause confusion, the article is an analysis of the exact term 'eth' that sold in various TLDs. It is not an article on the .eth decentalized domain extension. Which would be an interesting, but different, topic.
Thank you for clarifying it as I was about to do it myself even though you've made it abundantly clear in the original post what sales you have analyzed. :xf.smile:

I was actually quite intrigued by this phenomenon myself, given the high-valued sales spread across so many ccTLDs and ngTLDs. Especially so since most of them were not even in use. I think the biggest buyers are potentially people in crypto and web3 who think they might find a use for it later. The lower-priced sales could be domainers or crypto people getting whatever else is possible on a discount.

I like how you have the patience of a thorough scientist to go through the rigors and try to uncover the source of a curious phenomenon. I'm not speaking of domains here, but about life and our general approach toward it. I used to have that kind of patience and I am yearning to get back there. I feel today we're surrounded by so much noise (any distractions) and impatience that it ruins our focus. I want to find my clarity again.
 
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Just to clarify;
i misread Bob’s post!

Bob; sure not letting this post wasted…
I’m more likely to believe this data if it’s analyzing root words; much more useful data!

I’m a fool for misreading your post. I’m sorry.
I’m more liable to believe this! Love it. Macro : )
 
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I too thought it was about .eth domains :)
 
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Be careful, people; still nearly 100% .com:
i would advise all newbs to start with com;
If you have a hard time selling .com;
good luck with “.eth”! or other obscure exts!

Impeccable reporting, @Bob Hawkes credit; relay newest; but i’m dubious of any ”five figure” “.eth” sale; see down trend on!
The article isn't about .eth extension but eth keyword.

Modified:
Just seeing where you later acknowledged the mistake.
 
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Thank you for clarifying it as I was about to do it myself even though you've made it abundantly clear in the original post what sales you have analyzed. :xf.smile:

Next time read the article before making a judgment.
 
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Timing was bad. Logic doesn't always work. Maybe there are many other keywords selling for 6 figures in poor extensions, but agents are hiding them from us: they collect buyer data, lowball naive sellers, and quietly grab other extensions... (nothing wrong so far, except hiding buyer info from sellers !!! ) I invite everyone to contact their buyers to confirm that buying price is the same as the selling price. Extremely strangely, buyers ignore such questions, as if it doesn't matter. But maybe one day they won't , and then you can jointly file a lawsuit.
 
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Very happy to see my eth.faith is sold & discussed here.
I sold eth.faith for 5000$ in dan inbound.
buyer also offered me eth.study for 1250$ but i refused & asked 5555$ minimum.
 
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Bob; sure not letting this post wasted…
I’m more likely to believe this data if it’s analyzing root words; much more useful data!

I’m a fool for misreading your post. I’m sorry.
Hi Samer,

No problem - that happens to me from time to time when I misinterpret something I read.

In retrospect, I perhaps should have worded the title differently, or put in bold the clarification in the first paragraph. Several people at first interpreted it as .eth domain names, so you were not alone!

Honestly, until the first person felt there would be confusion (and reached out to me via DM) I had not thought some would interpret the title as .eth.

I personally have avoided investing in .eth domain names, and I guess they were not on my radar to same degree as many investors. I am positive about many of the aspirations of Web3, but to me domains is one of the last things we need decentralized, or more decentralized. Some central control of domain names approval is good in my mind, but that is a different topic I guess so should not take the thread off topic.

I find it hard to understand why ETH found so much demand as a SLD. I hope some readers will provide comments on that.

By the way the relative lack of use of ETH domain names purchased for strong amounts does not mean something was wrong about the sales. No matter what I study, it seems lots of domain sales sit unused for long periods of time. I think part of this is many entrepreneurs purchase more names than they really will develop, since not sure which idea they want to follow up. Probably some also have very vague ideas when a name is acquired.

Bob
 
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Can someone suggest why ETH has found more appeal than many strong keywords? The day I checked, it was taken in 604 TLDs. Compare to some strong keywords all with less:
  • pay 440
  • smart 461
  • casino 505
  • loan 282
  • travel 375
  • home 538
Is it because if we view attaching a wallet can apply to almost anything as the reason ETH is valuable in such a diversity of TLDs? Or am I missing something?

Bob

PS By the way Web3 is taken in almost as many, 583.
 
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Thanks for this post, really useful analyses!
 
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Good analysis Bob.

It might be worth mentioning that eth.cm sold for $112,800 a record amount for a .cm and one of the top ETH sales.

Other ETH.cctld that have recently changed hands:

eth.li (developed)
eth.se (developed)
eth.nl (acquired by us)
 
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Just to make sure this does not cause confusion, the article is an analysis of the exact term 'eth' that sold in various TLDs within the ICANN and country code centralized systems. It is not an article on the .eth decentralized domain extension. Which would be an interesting, but different, topic.
Would be cool to see one on .eth

Been hearing of big sells and will be diving in that realm myself.
 
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Maybe ETH has a different meaning, and Ethereum is just a cover up.
For example it could mean ET Humanoid. (Yes, we should expect to see them sometime. )
Then all those extensions make more sense. eth.singles etc..
 
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Ty sir, I got ETH.voto for sale.
 
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Eth extension was already "yo wtf" but goodluck 💆‍♂️
Thanks, DN. Just sold it while we were posting.


I think the buyer is maybe reading this post. When the payment is completed, I will make it public in the post of domain name sales.

Thank you again Mr @Bob Hawkes .
 
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Can someone suggest why ETH has found more appeal than many strong keywords? The day I checked, it was taken in 604 TLDs. Compare to some strong keywords all with less:
  • pay 440
  • smart 461
  • casino 505
  • loan 282
  • travel 375
  • home 538
Is it because if we view attaching a wallet can apply to almost anything as the reason ETH is valuable in such a diversity of TLDs? Or am I missing something?

Bob

PS By the way Web3 is taken in almost as many, 583.
Hype. FOMO.

It is hard to argue a term like "pay" would not be more valuable in every extension.

Brad
 
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Isn't this reflective of many trendy SLD keywords invested into in the past.. basically a fear of missing out on something that really won't be developed into anything worthwhile.

The true long-term developmental examples are few and far between. A real problem in these cases is likely social media influence on investors or well-intentioned startups whom don't understand exactly what they are buying other than it appears to be lucrative at the moment.

The mistake with investing into "blocknames" as an SLD like eth, web3, crypto etc is that they aren't actually blocknames, they are based on traditional extensions which negates the whole point. With real blocknames, they serve a legitimate investment purpose.

This is why I stay away from most trends, they just end up cluttering up the domain space with no real use. Quick buck be damned.

ETH as an SLD keyword blew up because NFTs blew up, with the transactions based on the Ethereum network.
 
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Porno.eth sold for 200k yesterday
 
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I sold 2 Eth domains so far
.ceo
.photos

Still got
Eth.pa
Eth.tours
 
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