HNS, NFT… NFL? NamesCon brought it all!
NamesCon Online made the most of its digital environment to deliver nonstop insights into the expanding world of digital assets. With domain name investing as its bedrock, the NamesCon community also dove deep into the worlds of cryptocurrency, NFTs, and outside-the-box digital assets that create future-proof portfolios. The key areas covered were:
- NFTs
- Cryptocurrency
- nTLDs
- Valuation
- Monetization
- Sales techniques for a changing world
- Domain name industry recaps and forecasting
The Ape in the Room: NFTs
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have taken the internet by storm, so what’s up with all those apes? NamesCon Online assembled experts to help cut through the hype and make sense of how NFTs fit into a domain investor’s strategy—and what the future holds for this still-maturing digital asset. Yes, this included discussing the dynamics of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Sneaky Vampire Syndicate, among other animals/creatures/robots/zombies running amuck through your social channels. Bold Metrics co-founder Morgan Linton’s fireside chat with NamesCon co-founder and Logo.com founder Richard Lau on this subject led to a particularly raucous Q&A session that ran well into overtime.
Speaking of sports metaphors…
Daily Fantasy Sports as an Investment Strategy
Yeah, you read that right. In “Domaining and Daily Fantasy Sports”, all-star investors Andrew Miller and Roman Edmond coached the NamesCon community on taking DFS from a hobby to a business—namely how to win big-money, large-field tournaments on Draftkings and Fanduel.
Solid Foundations for Emerging Domain Investors
DNAcademy founder Michael Cyger’s “How to Value Domain Names Step-by-Step” was a huge hit, drawing over 400 attendees, who enjoyed an intense bootcamp on making sense of real-life domain name value. Following that up was the always-entertaining NamesCon mainstay, “What’s My Domain Worth”, a panel that provides on-the-spot valuations of attendees’ names, plus analyses of the high-profile deals that rocked the industry earlier in the year.
Emerging domainers also learned about the building blocks of the domaining industry, both on the investor and Registry/registrar side:
- Monetizing a domain portfolio without selling the actual names.
- How traffic works, and how to use traffic trends to your advantage.
- Real numbers around domain investing—this one was a long time coming!
- Where those thousands of nTLDs fit into the future of domaining—and there’s another round of nTLDs on the way.
- For those who wanted to step into the crazy world of registries, there was a whole session on how to run a new gTLD.
Handshake, It’s a Pleasure to Meet You
For the first time, a NamesCon event featured an entire track dedicated to cryptocurrency, and not the crypto you’re necessarily thinking of! The Handshake Stage focused on HNS-based names: that is, how domaining works on the blockchain. There was heavy interest in this, since the overlap between crypto and domaining is pretty deep.
Auction Action for Everyone
In another first, NamesCon featured three different auctions. No matter their experience or risk tolerance, there was something for every NamesCon attendee.
The RapidFire Domain Auction featured a curated roster of low- and no-reserve names. 73 names went under the quickly-slamming gavel, raising $11,000, including $3,495 to help build school libraries in Mombasa, Kenya.
The RightOfTheDot Premium Domain Auction was all about high-end digital real estate, where high rollers made the big moves to score big names.
The final day of the event saw the Flamingo Handshake Auction, which featured blockchain-based names, mostly emoji names, bought with cryptocurrency.
A Growing Community, Ready to Meet Again
With nearly 900 attendees from 53 different countries, the NamesCon community continues to grow and diversify. New voices, new ideas, and new areas of digital asset investing to explore: the future is exciting for the world’s largest domaining conference series! The NamesCon team can’t wait to see you soon—this time in person! Keep an eye on our social channels and subscribe to the NamesCon newsletter to stay in the loop.
