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debate Successful domain investor = Successful NFT investor??

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Can we use our domaining experience successfully in NFTs?

Domain names and NFTs both have one very common property - they are non-fungible. No 2 domain names are the same, and by definition, NFTs are also ...NFTs.

Do you think there are ways how we can use our domaining experience in NFT investing? If so, what principles would you apply? I can imagine that things like scarcity, history, usability, and provenance are some of the factors, but would love to hear your approach. Also, do you have some favourite NFT collections you put your money into? Please share your views :)
 
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Domains are kind of like old school NFT, but actually usable.

They are non-fungible, portable, there is a public record of ownership (whois vs blockchain), etc.

NFT are too new and there is endless hype around them. I don't think at this point there is really any way to "value" them.

It is clear a lot of the stuff being offered is worthless crap, though the concept itself is likely to have at least some staying power.

The big difference is that domains are actually usable, where NFT main value is usually as a collectible.

Brad
 
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Domains are kind of like old school NFT, but actually usable.

They are non-fungible, portable, there is a public record of ownership (whois vs blockchain), etc.

NFT are too new and there is endless hype around them. I don't think at this point there is really any way to "value" them.

It is clear a lot of the stuff being offered is worthless crap, though the concept itself is likely to have at least some staying power.

The big difference is that domains are actually usable, where NFT main value is usually as a collectible.

Brad
Yes, I also think 99,99% of what is produced today in NFT space is total crap and will hold 0 value in the future. When I check places like Opensea.io, there are literally thousands of different artists. The prices people pay these days for digital art without eye blink are enormous, and I think most of what they purchase will be illiquid in the future.

I have almost 0 doubts that some of these arworks (a very small percentage) will have a large value in future and people who buy them today will retire on them in 5 - 10 years- but the question is, which ones, and how to select those gems from all that chaos :)
 
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IMHO, it's not entirely correct that domains are usable and NFTs are not.

In fact, conceptually NFTs are much more usable than modern day domain name system, they are just so new that we aren't yet sure how the future of NFT will be shaped.

Technology wise, NFTs are not just some collectible references (Tokens) that people can own through blockchain. Instead think of NFTs as unbreakable proof of any and all possible digital ownership.

The domain as we use now, don't have proper ownership structure. They are controlled by a central registry, maintained by middle men called registrar and leased by people like us at a yearly fee. However, there can be domains (already known as Crypto domains, like .crypto) based on NFTs that we can actually own, permanently if we want to. No one can take them from us unless we release them after a bargain.

For now, the technology is not fully actualized everywhere, so we can only own them like collectibles. However, (for example) 10 years from now it may be completely different. NFT domains may even become mainstream to avoid censorship.

This is just the beginning of NFTs, it has the potential to shape our entire digital world to something completely new. So yes, even if they seem like non-usable for now (of course some NFTs like arts will always be just collectibles), if they keep evolving and if more and more people keep adopting them, at some point in the future, NFTs will be as usable as the internet itself, coupled with crypto currency.
 
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IMHO, it's not entirely correct that domains are usable and NFTs are not.

In fact, conceptually NFTs are much more usable than modern day domain name system, they are just so new that we aren't yet sure how the future of NFT will be shaped.

Technology wise, NFTs are not just some collectible references (Tokens) that people can own through blockchain. Instead think of NFTs as unbreakable proof of any and all possible digital ownership.

The domain as we use now, don't have proper ownership structure. They are controlled by a central registry, maintained by middle men called registrar and leased by people like us at a yearly fee. However, there can be domains (already known as Crypto domains, like .crypto) based on NFTs that we can actually own, permanently if we want to. No one can take them from us unless we release them after a bargain.

For now, the technology is not fully actualized everywhere, so we can only own them like collectibles. However, (for example) 10 years from now it may be completely different. NFT domains may even become mainstream to avoid censorship.

This is just the beginning of NFTs, it has the potential to shape our entire digital world to something completely new. So yes, even if they seem like non-usable for now (of course some NFTs like arts will always be just collectibles), if they keep evolving and if more and more people keep adopting them, at some point in the future, NFTs will be as usable as the internet itself, coupled with crypto currency.
I have a very similar understanding of things. People still do not understand NFTs, which is great, because now is the best time to accumulate. Once most people will actually understand what is going on, it will be already too late to get good NFTs for reasonable prices, IMO.

Are you already investing or thinking about it, and do you know about an interesting collection that has good investment potential?
 
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Once most people will actually understand what is going on, it will be already too late to get good NFTs for reasonable prices, IMO.

I agree on this to some extent. However, I'd refine it a bit further. I'd say that understanding the NFT technology is not the issue here, instead, understanding and being able to predict the adoption of the masses should be the main focus point from the point of view of making profits out of it.

People make profits from these sort of things in mainly two ways:
  1. Profits through cashing in the hype (i.e. as long as the bubble lasts).
  2. Long term steady profits.
The first case is already happening, you'll have to figure out who's buying what and why and you'll have to cash in within this bubble.

The second case however, is about understanding the eventual adoption of the masses. People who can get that, will make most Long term and steady profits. This is not unique to NFTs, this is true for almost all the financial bubbles.

Surely only some people will make money and many will lose money; and once the bubble is burst, many people will want to liquidate even the NFTs that have the potential to become extremely valuable in the long run. People who'll correctly predict the long game, will collect those at that point and make huge profits years later. Undoubtedly though, only a very few people will correctly predict the long game :)

This is my humble opinion anyways. Of course other people may disagree.

Are you already investing or thinking about it, and do you know about an interesting collection that has good investment potential?

I guess I've already answered the question to some extent. Obviously I'll not show all my cards in public, but in the spirit of cooperation, I'd say this much: I'm eyeing in it for the long game, not for some short term profits.

If enough people do the same thing, it'll only be good for the entire ecosystem. A huge number of people losing a lot of money cannot be sustainable in any financial system.

So I'd suggest everyone not to rush in based on hypes, instead:
  1. First try to visualize the future around it.
  2. Then try to predict the adoption of the masses.
  3. Then test that prediction against short term patterns of adoption.
  4. Then invest responsibly, follow a well tested strategy like the 80/20 principle.
Of course, following a strategy doesn't have to mean a very slow process. Timing is important, but in the long game, it's not the most important factor. The most important factor is that you have a vision and that vision is well planned, well tested and well executed.

All the best wishes.

Regards,
Fayaz.
 
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Not at the moment no. Too much hype, little added value all funded with skyrocketing crypto assets.

The time is now to sell NFTs. Embrace the hype, sell crap. Profit.
 
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I think you compared Chicken and Duck or My Wife and My Girlfriend.
They may look similar from a distance but not close up.
NFT is a niche and subset of Domain Names.
 
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Can we use our domaining experience successfully in NFTs?

Domain names and NFTs both have one very common property - they are non-fungible. No 2 domain names are the same, and by definition, NFTs are also ...NFTs.

Do you think there are ways how we can use our domaining experience in NFT investing? If so, what principles would you apply? I can imagine that things like scarcity, history, usability, and provenance are some of the factors, but would love to hear your approach. Also, do you have some favourite NFT collections you put your money into? Please share your views :)

That's a good question,

I like to find out more about NFTs too,

But I think some people might have misunderstood your question and so perhaps it's a good idea to indicate the fact that you are not referring to registering NFT related .coms but rather making or buying actual NFTs of artwork (or anything else that can be made into NFT like sports cards, real estate, music, or even domain names).

I believe that NFT has created a great opportunity for the artists to be able to present their work by making a NFT for it, but buying those NFTs seems to be the playground for the millionaires who don't mind spending a few thousand dollars (or millions) to satisfy their need for owning something rare and unique regardless of the resell value of their investment.

I don't believe that many of us here are quite in that position that can afford such expensive hobby as you have to have a lot of disposable income to be able to spend a good sum of money just to obtain the bragging rights to owning something unique which in many cases it might not even be very rare as there might be multiple other copies out there of what you have as NFT although yours will be the only one that is tokenized ( that has been put on the blockchain ledger).

The extent of my involvement with NFTs at the present time is that I have recently registered a few NFT related .coms which I am hoping that will become more relevant in the near future.

I did get a price inquiry just the other day at Afternic for MetaMinted.com which I had hand registered a few days ago, but I think I scared them off by asking too much (75k :xf.smile:).

Nevertheless I have recently become more interested in watching those painting lesson programs on the PBS (the public TV channel in the US) incase I wanted to start painting my own masterpieces that I could make NFTs for. :xf.wink:


Here are some of my Art and NFT related .coms that I have recently hand registered and made a placeholder website for:

MintAthing.com

NftWorkOfArt.com

MetaverseGalleria.com

MasterpieceGalleria.com

UnRealverse.com


IMO
 
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very different skillset imo. most domainers seem to be getting burnt trying to reg the relevant .com's for this trend let alone researching the small percentage of blue chip NFT's to invest in
 
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Domains are kind of like old school NFT, but actually usable.

They are non-fungible, portable, there is a public record of ownership (whois vs blockchain), etc.

NFT are too new and there is endless hype around them. I don't think at this point there is really any way to "value" them.

It is clear a lot of the stuff being offered is worthless crap, though the concept itself is likely to have at least some staying power.

The big difference is that domains are actually usable, where NFT main value is usually as a collectible.

Brad

Exactly Brad, it's where do the benchmarks for value come in? And you have people like Seth Godin calling them a dangerous trap, https://seths.blog/2021/03/nfts-are-a-dangerous-trap/
 
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I agree on this to some extent. However, I'd refine it a bit further. I'd say that understanding the NFT technology is not the issue here, instead, understanding and being able to predict the adoption of the masses should be the main focus point from the point of view of making profits out of it.

People make profits from these sort of things in mainly two ways:
  1. Profits through cashing in the hype (i.e. as long as the bubble lasts).
  2. Long term steady profits.
The first case is already happening, you'll have to figure out who's buying what and why and you'll have to cash in within this bubble.

The second case however, is about understanding the eventual adoption of the masses. People who can get that, will make most Long term and steady profits. This is not unique to NFTs, this is true for almost all the financial bubbles.

Surely only some people will make money and many will lose money; and once the bubble is burst, many people will want to liquidate even the NFTs that have the potential to become extremely valuable in the long run. People who'll correctly predict the long game, will collect those at that point and make huge profits years later. Undoubtedly though, only a very few people will correctly predict the long game :)

This is my humble opinion anyways. Of course other people may disagree.



I guess I've already answered the question to some extent. Obviously I'll not show all my cards in public, but in the spirit of cooperation, I'd say this much: I'm eyeing in it for the long game, not for some short term profits.

If enough people do the same thing, it'll only be good for the entire ecosystem. A huge number of people losing a lot of money cannot be sustainable in any financial system.

So I'd suggest everyone not to rush in based on hypes, instead:
  1. First try to visualize the future around it.
  2. Then try to predict the adoption of the masses.
  3. Then test that prediction against short term patterns of adoption.
  4. Then invest responsibly, follow a well tested strategy like the 80/20 principle.
Of course, following a strategy doesn't have to mean a very slow process. Timing is important, but in the long game, it's not the most important factor. The most important factor is that you have a vision and that vision is well planned, well tested and well executed.

All the best wishes.

Regards,
Fayaz.
Thanks for sharing Fayaz! Yes, a long-term game IMO is the way to go. I see so many people flipping good NFTs for a few USD profits - they are giving away generational wealth in some cases as I see it. While this is very common with the flipper's mentality, one can not say it is necessarily wrong, as they simply need money now.

Stealth acquisition I respect - I do the same since November.
 
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That's a good question,

I like to find out more about NFTs too,

But I think some people might have misunderstood your question and so perhaps it's a good idea to indicate the fact that you are not referring to registering NFT related .coms but rather making or buying actual NFTs of artwork (or anything else that can be made into NFT like sports cards, real estate, music, or even domain names).

I believe that NFT has created a great opportunity for the artists to be able to present their work by making a NFT for it, but buying those NFTs seems to be the playground for the millionaires who don't mind spending a few thousand dollars (or millions) to satisfy their need for owning something rare and unique regardless of the resell value of their investment.

I don't believe that many of us here are quite in that position that can afford such expensive hobby as you have to have a lot of disposable income to be able to spend a good sum of money just to obtain the bragging rights to owning something unique which in many cases it might not even be very rare as there might be multiple other copies out there of what you have as NFT although yours will be the only one that is tokenized ( that has been put on the blockchain ledger).

The extent of my involvement with NFTs at the present time is that I have recently registered a few NFT related .coms which I am hoping that will become more relevant in the near future.

I did get a price inquiry just the other day at Afternic for MetaMinted.com which I had hand registered a few days ago, but I think I scared them off by asking too much (75k :xf.smile:).

Nevertheless I have recently become more interested in watching those painting lesson programs on the PBS (the public TV channel in the US) incase I wanted to start painting my own masterpieces that I could make NFTs for. :xf.wink:


Here are some of my Art and NFT related .coms that I have recently hand registered and made a placeholder website for:

MintAthing.com

NftWorkOfArt.com

MetaverseGalleria.com

MasterpieceGalleria.com

UnRealverse.com


IMO
Thanks for sharing @oldtimer! Yes, some people misunderstood and thought that we are speaking here only about crypto domains, so thanks for clarifying it more :)

Metaminted is a nice one, who wants it, should pay for it! IMO. They have absurd amounts of money in ethereum, so they can give some to us, domain investors, lol. I have a similar experience with my domain meta / life - since this, all took off, I had 8 offers or so for it. I always ask something like half mil for it, and people gets angry. But if something like metaverse in .io sold for 100k plus, no need to be timid with prices for crypto folks anymore. It might happen as well that we sell our meta domains on this levels, and will brag a bit about it then :)
 
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Exactly Brad, it's where do the benchmarks for value come in? And you have people like Seth Godin calling them a dangerous trap, https://seths.blog/2021/03/nfts-are-a-dangerous-trap/
Brad and Raymond, that article of Seth, please take with a grain of salt: IMO he should get his crypto punks when they were given free to the community in 2017. Now the floor price for the ugliest one is 40k. The Alien just sold for 7.5 mil. Apes are getting offers for 1 mil regularly, and those offers are not even accepted. NFTs are not a trap if you get in early. You do not have any renewal fees for NFTs. Domains also can not even compare to NFTs like CryptoPunks in terms of liquidity.

Seth also should mention almost energy-free minting in blockchains like Kusama, Solana, BSC or xDAI. He is right about large energy consumption, but he refers solely to Ethereum blockchain which is not the only option for NFTs anymore - technology moves so fast...so the article is very outdated from this perspective, and he wrote it in 03/2021, just a few weeks ago .. lack of correct information it must be, I believe :)
 
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Brad and Raymond, that article of Seth, please take with a grain of salt: IMO he should get his crypto punks when they were given free to the community in 2017. Now the floor price for the ugliest one is 40k. The Alien just sold for 7.5 mil. Apes are getting offers for 1 mil regularly, and those offers are not even accepted. NFTs are not a trap if you get in early. You do not have any renewal fees for NFTs. Domains also can not even compare to NFTs like CryptoPunks in terms of liquidity.

Seth also should mention almost energy-free minting in blockchains like Kusama, Solana, BSC or xDAI. He is right about large energy consumption, but he refers solely to Ethereum blockchain which is not the only option for NFTs anymore - technology moves so fast...so the article is very outdated from this perspective, and he wrote it in 03/2021, just a few weeks ago .. lack of correct information it must be, I believe :)

There is absolutely no way to value NFT at the moment. These could be valuable long term or beanie babies.

When you are dealing with things with artificial scarcity vs actual scarcity it is a risky game, especially with so much hype behind them over a short period of time.

If you want to jump in on them best of luck.

Brad
 
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There is absolutely no way to value NFT at the moment. These could be valuable long term or beanie babies.

When you are dealing with things with artificial scarcity vs actual scarcity it is a risky game, especially with so much hype behind them in a short period of time.

If you want to jump in on them best of luck.

Brad
Absolutely, Very difficult to assess what will be valuable. I have some opinions but trying to get some additional info here. It seems we are all acquiring in stealth mode at the moment, as no one is really sharing any details about their favourite NFT collections, but let's see.

It might be a pretty expensive exercise to get in now, but I do not want to wait a few years until someone opens "NFT Academy" and teaches me what and how to invest, lol :) It will be too late then, IMO.

Saying that I do expect some pretty costly mistakes on the road (aka me stuck with some illiquid NFTs). Hopefully positive will outwith negative, but we will not know until we try.
 
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It seems we are all acquiring in stealth mode at the moment, as no one is really sharing any details about their favourite NFT collections

Most blue chips with high liquidity are already known:

BTC - Rare pepes

ETH - Cryptopunks, Autoglyphs, Artblocks (Ringers, Unigrids etc), Axie Infinity (Mystics), Cryptokitties (Founders), Mooncats (Black/White), any 2018 Vintage SuperRare, Metaverse land in Decentraland/Somnium Space, 1/1 art of top/upcoming artists like XCopy/Hackatao, one-word .eth ENS names.

Flow - NBA Topshot (Cosmic series, Lebron's etc.)

Probably a couple more, but it's a tiny % of all the projects out there right now that are worth holding long term, rest will get you absolutely rekt. For most people it's gonna be way smarter to just stack ETH instead
 
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I have a similar experience with my domain meta / life - since this, all took off, I had 8 offers or so for it. I always ask something like half mil for it, :)

That's a great domain name that you have and is certainly worth holding onto to get your optimum asking price.

I thought I was asking too much for MetaMinted.com since I had just registered it, but now that I think about it maybe I need to increase my asking price for it. :xf.smile:

After all NFTs seem to be all about Minting (Tokenizing) things and so Meta Minted already says that we are dealing with some valuable Collectables.


IMO
 
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That's a good question,

I like to find out more about NFTs too,

But I think some people might have misunderstood your question and so perhaps it's a good idea to indicate the fact that you are not referring to registering NFT related .coms but rather making or buying actual NFTs of artwork (or anything else that can be made into NFT like sports cards, real estate, music, or even domain names).

I believe that NFT has created a great opportunity for the artists to be able to present their work by making a NFT for it, but buying those NFTs seems to be the playground for the millionaires who don't mind spending a few thousand dollars (or millions) to satisfy their need for owning something rare and unique regardless of the resell value of their investment.

I don't believe that many of us here are quite in that position that can afford such expensive hobby as you have to have a lot of disposable income to be able to spend a good sum of money just to obtain the bragging rights to owning something unique which in many cases it might not even be very rare as there might be multiple other copies out there of what you have as NFT although yours will be the only one that is tokenized ( that has been put on the blockchain ledger).

The extent of my involvement with NFTs at the present time is that I have recently registered a few NFT related .coms which I am hoping that will become more relevant in the near future.

I did get a price inquiry just the other day at Afternic for MetaMinted.com which I had hand registered a few days ago, but I think I scared them off by asking too much (75k :xf.smile:).

Nevertheless I have recently become more interested in watching those painting lesson programs on the PBS (the public TV channel in the US) incase I wanted to start painting my own masterpieces that I could make NFTs for. :xf.wink:


Here are some of my Art and NFT related .coms that I have recently hand registered and made a placeholder website for:

MintAthing.com

NftWorkOfArt.com

MetaverseGalleria.com

MasterpieceGalleria.com

UnRealverse.com


IMO
I like that. So just to be clear is an NFT a non-fungible-token?

I think of rare coins in that sense. If there is anyone that wants some serious NFTs I would love to sell Some.

I’m probably off topic but I love numismatics.
 
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Most blue chips with high liquidity are already known:

BTC - Rare pepes

ETH - Cryptopunks, Autoglyphs, Artblocks (Ringers, Unigrids etc), Axie Infinity (Mystics), Cryptokitties (Founders), Mooncats (Black/White), any 2018 Vintage SuperRare, Metaverse land in Decentraland/Somnium Space, 1/1 art of top/upcoming artists like XCopy/Hackatao, one-word .eth ENS names.

Flow - NBA Topshot (Cosmic series, Lebron's etc.)

Probably a couple more, but it's a tiny % of all the projects out there right now that are worth holding long term, rest will get you absolutely rekt. For most people it's gonna be way smarter to just stack ETH instead
This is a very good list, a perfect start for the discussion IMO.

My remarks:

- BTC:
was not aware of Rare pepes, need to check what it is.

- ETH:
Cryptopunks - too expensive already? Floor punks are 40k now.
Axie Infinity (Mystics) - I completely missed the boat
Mooncats (Black/White) - Genesis cats, yes, but also maybe some good numbers related to their wrapper (#8, #1, things like that, based mainly on Chinese preferences). They have also some rarities ranks, but I am not sure if those ranks will be so relevant in the future.
Top upcoming artists, you mentioned - very nice, but a little pricey maybe already?
One-word .eth ENS names - that boat is long long gone ...or not? Not an expert here, still need to learn.
I would add 2 interesting collections on ETH to your lists: Hashmasks and Bastard Gan Punks V2 - DYOR, but I guess there is a large potential. Visuals of the latter ones are just amazing, and both are very innovative.

- FLOW - will check, heard about it, but is that boat also may be gone? Or not yet?

- KUSAMA - adding this information in a spirit of cooperation. Kusama is Kanary network to Polkadot, which is the best candidate IMO for future Web3 - and the very first NFTs on Kusama are SubstraPunks. Best deals are already long gone, but floor SubstraPunks are still pretty affordable. I like them also from an artistic point of view.

----
Yes, I agree, it takes months to learn even the basics of NFTs, and most people will be better just holding ETH in this context. Thanks for sharing your list :)
 
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I like that. So just to be clear is an NFT a non-fungible-token?

I think of rare coins in that sense. If there is anyone that wants some serious NFTs I would love to sell Some.

I’m probably off topic but I love numismatics.
Well, NFTs must be digital in their nature. When we speak about physical rare coins (numismatics), these are also NFTs in a sense, but shortcut NFTs is used for non-fungible-tokens primarily as for digital items.
 
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That's a great domain name that you have and is certainly worth holding onto to get your optimum asking price.

I thought I was asking too much for MetaMinted.com since I had just registered it, but now that I think about it maybe I need to increase my asking price for it. :xf.smile:

After all NFTs seem to be all about Minting (Tokenizing) things and so Meta Minted already says that we are dealing with some valuable Collectables.


IMO


Meta in the .life extension is a very good match. But I think the .io extension has more end-users in general when compared to the .life extension. Just saying
 
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Meta in the .life extension is a very good match. But I think the .io extension has more end-users in general when compared to the .life extension. Just saying

The whole purpose of the .io extension becoming so popular amongst certain startups is because they are able to get some top one word keywords that might cost them millions if they were in .com ,

But I haven't seen too many two word .io domains that have sold recently,

The Meta in .life is still still considered a one word domain, but in .io it would be a two word domain and as such it might not be as much sought after by the end users as something like the Meta .io that supposedly sold for a big sum recently.

If the time comes that the startups start venturing into two word domains in .io then it's not just Meta+Life but all the Meta+keyword that are already popular in .com that will become sought after too , but for now I believe that everyone is just sticking to one word domains in .io

Anyway that's is just my understanding of the .io domains at the present time, perhaps things can change later on, but for now I believe that Meta in .Life is better than Meta+Life in .io but perhaps not as good as Meta .io and certainly not as good as Meta .com when it comes to top domain names.

Although things can change in the future and that's why that certain domains in New gTLDs are considered to be long term investments and are worth hanging onto.

IMO
 
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