This reminds me a bit of when crypto currencies went berzerk back in 2014. All these clone coins came out (like exotic extensions?) and people were just pouring money into everything. This also drove Bitcoin to dizzy new heights (like .com?). Then a combination of a few market manipulators, and the fact that you couldn't actually spend about 98% of those coins in the real world caused the whole thing to crash.
I'm more hopeful about this though. Firstly, domains have been used for many years, and will be used for many years to come. They already have some intrinsic usefulness, where as the infrastructure wasn't quite there yet for cryptos. Secondly, the internet is still growing - especially in Asia. As more people get connected and more business move online, more domains will be required one way or another. But like I said above, we know China is buying up the names, but in what capacity are they being used..? I for one have no idea.
All these buyouts are happening and some Chinese investors are buying hundreds of thousands of names. You'd want to hope they have some sort of business plan, cause otherwise I doubt they'll be renewing all those names next year..
As always, they key is to buy quality names. I've always had a soft spot for .co, and the fact it's similar to other names the Chinese like (.com, .cn, .cc) gives me hope that a business wouldn't mind setting up on a terrific .co name. Arbitrary as that reasoning may be..
