UPDATE (6th August 12:20 BST): This piece has been updated following the official announcement of the sale by Domain Guardians. The final sale price was $1m rather than $1.1m as originally stated by GAWMiners CEO Josh Garza.
The domain name BTC.com has been sold to bitcoin mining equipment specialist GAWMiners.
It had been on the market for less than a month before GAWMiners chief executive Josh Garza secured the $1m deal.
GAWMiners is a relatively large mining hardware vendor. The Connecticut-based firm sells a wide range of SHA-256 and scrypt ASICs, including hardware from Bitmain, Gridseed, Innosilicon, Rock Miner, SilveFish as well as its own GAWMiners brand machinery.
It remains unclear what Garza hopes to do with the newly acquired domain. At press time, the site features a placeholder stating that something “amazing” is coming soon.
Domain name interest continues
The sale of BTC.com is yet another entry into the string of recent domain name acquisitions. Indeed, today’s news yet again illustrates the many opportunities for brokers and investors that bitcoin has brought to the domain name industry.
Niko Younts announced in February that he had sold BitcoinWallet.com to an Austin-based entrepreneur, Alex Charfen, for $250,000. Younts had initially purchased the domain name for $11,000. He also indicated that another domain name in his ownership, BitcoinWallets.com was on the market for a similar asking price, $200,000.
Yet not every effort has been successful in the space as of late.
Last month, former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles announced the auction of Bitcoins.com, as part of an effort to provide relief to those that lost money in the now defunct bitcoin exchange. A Seattle court moved to block the sale and the auction was subsequently canceled.
Reaching consumers
Beyond the investment opportunity, bitcoin-related domains offer buyers the chance to catch consumer interest with easy-to-use URLs.
In April, Blockchain.info signed a 5-year deal to manage Bitcoin.com, which had previously been used by Coinbase to attract customers.
Blockchain said it would use the domain to reach out to mainstream consumers unfamiliar with bitcoin, and made good on its promise in June, when it officially relaunched it. The company now uses the site as a learning platform for people new to bitcoin and digital currency.
Hat tip: Cryptocoins News