January 21, 2014
As the value of a Bitcoin increased last year, so too did the number of related domains registered.
According to Verisign Inc, the value of the crypto-currency skyrocketed from approximately USD $13 at the beginning of last year and went on to reach a staggering high of $1,137 at the end of November.
"It is interesting to see that despite the relative modesty of the April price surge when compared to the November/December surge, daily registrations for both instances peaked at roughly the same number: 490 and 472 respectively," says Verisign - but noting that the November surge was far more sustained.
Stories such as this recent piece on Wired no doubt help to fuel the Bitcoin domain registration frenzy - and the acquisition of Bitcoins by speculators. A Silicon Valley venture capitalist believes Bitcoin could become the main form of payment on the Internet and given only so many Bitcoins will ever be produced, he believes the value of a single Bitcoin could easily reach $100,000 in the future.
While that may sound a little nuts, the gentleman in question reminds us that it would have been "absurd to say in 1993 that domain names were worth $10 million each." That of course has happened, albeit only with a comparative handful of names.
In Australia, the Bitcoin scene has grown steadily, with a number of online brokerages and related web sites now operating - and many Bitcoin themed .com.au domain names are registered that are not yet in use.
Bitcoin trivia: Early in January 2009, the first 50 Bitcoins were mined, known as the "genesis block". In 2009, Bitcoins could be purchased for a few cents each. The current value (as at the time of writing) of a single Bitcoin is approximately USD $873.
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