China's love of short domain names and cryptocurrency have intersected here as a new Chinese digital currency exchange has just launched on a two-letter .COM domain, ZB.com. Following China's ban on citizens trading in cryptocurrency, this site is attempting to skirt around those restrictions by offering this worldwide service.
Whilst the company itself, run by Chinese exchange CHBTC.com, is incorporated in Samoa, the site is clearly geared towards the Chinese market. Whilst exchanges cannot be made using China's own currency, ZB.com transactions can take place in in Bitcoin or USDT, a token created by Tether that has an equivalent value to the US Dollar.
Since this is a domaining blog, the domain name used by this company is of great interest. The ZB.com domain name looks to have been acquired by the current owners from domain brokerage company 62.com. According to DomainIQ, the transaction may have taken place very recently since the name went into WHOIS privacy at GoDaddy in October.
In China, the letters "ZB" can mean zhí bō, which translated into English means "live broadcast" or "Internet broadcast".
The domain was previously owned by former toy store Zany Brainy before it was sold to an investor. According to a Facebook post, the domain was once owned by British domainer Andy Booth before being acquired by a Chinese domainer in 2013.
The sale of ZB.com to create this cryptocurrency exchange is likely to be worth six or seven figures. The last end-user sale of a two-letter .COM domain we have knowledge of is the $3.77 million sale of HG.com. Could this be of a similar magnitude? We have sent a message to our contact at 62.com to see whether details of the sale can be revealed.
Whilst the company itself, run by Chinese exchange CHBTC.com, is incorporated in Samoa, the site is clearly geared towards the Chinese market. Whilst exchanges cannot be made using China's own currency, ZB.com transactions can take place in in Bitcoin or USDT, a token created by Tether that has an equivalent value to the US Dollar.
In China, the letters "ZB" can mean zhí bō, which translated into English means "live broadcast" or "Internet broadcast".
The domain was previously owned by former toy store Zany Brainy before it was sold to an investor. According to a Facebook post, the domain was once owned by British domainer Andy Booth before being acquired by a Chinese domainer in 2013.
The sale of ZB.com to create this cryptocurrency exchange is likely to be worth six or seven figures. The last end-user sale of a two-letter .COM domain we have knowledge of is the $3.77 million sale of HG.com. Could this be of a similar magnitude? We have sent a message to our contact at 62.com to see whether details of the sale can be revealed.