In the 90s we had the .com bubble. In the 20s we will have the .io and .eth bubble. .io is a domain that became popularized by blockchain and tech developers. Purchasing a .io domain is more expensive than buying a .com. The .eth domain is used by ethereum people and web3 people.
Why am I writing this? Well to tell you the truth I am a shameless promoter who wants to profit from this new bubble. I am very good at coming up with catchy names. And I own two .io domains that will make me a respectable amount of money if I can find the right buyer(s). I will not disclose the price as I’m looking for as the domain name market is tightly controlled to prevent it from becoming too expensive for the common person to own a website. Also if I tell you the price I will have to sell it at market standards which will be a blow to me due to the fact that an NDA ain’t gonna be able to cover for a public promotion with an exact figure. If you sell domain names that are way out of the money you should expect the buyer to make you sign an NDA. The NDA is to protect them from getting destroyed by their competitors who will get irate over the fact that they would buy a domain that is way over the money.
This new domain name bubble centers around this thing called Meta. It’s the Facebook rebrand and ethereum will become basically the means of exchange for this Metaverse.
Personally, I think Metaverse is stupid. I’ve seen Wall-E. But I am also a profiteer, so what I think personally means very little to my actual bottom line.
The .io domain has been around since 1997, but only gained popularity in 2012 and beyond, which was right around the time that Bitcoin became an actual mainstream thing. Basically, it started as a marketing play because it sounded fresh and hipster, but when the children’s game agar.io took off the .io domain took on a life of its own. .com isn’t dead. .com has become the boomer. .io and .eth are millennials are gen z if you want to put a cultural metaphorical twist on it.
With this being said the internet as we know it is going to change. We are entering the Roman Age of the internet. Anyone who wants exposure will get it. Don’t expect the US government to be able to control web3. These old-timers are way out of their scope of understanding to even begin to try and regulate, tax and govern a blockchain-entrenched society. For at least the next 10 years there will be a wild-west of Metaverse. No amount of laws on the current government books will be able to control this.
Think of this being like that one episode of Black Mirror where those two guys reunite in adulthood and play a game where they actually go into a simulation and both come out thinking they might be gay when their male and female avatars fuck in the game. It’s headed in that direction. Or that other episode of Black Mirror where you have the doctor who is addicted to feeling his patients’ pain. We have entered Rome and Mark Zuckerberg is the first Emporer of the New Roman Empire.
My advice? Start buying up .eth and .io domain names. .io is transitory whereas .eth is the intended norm.