For more than a decade, nothing new has been added to how the internet is organised — and that is changing. A company called Link Freedom Group just applied for over 300 new website endings — things like .com. Their bet is that these endings are becoming valuable digital real estate, especially as AI, fintech and digital business keep growing. Joining me to break this down is the CEO of Link Freedom Group, Vaughn Liley. Vaughn, welcome to the show.
Good morning Johnny. How are you?
Doing well. In simple terms, what did your company just apply to do and why does this matter to everyday businesses?
Link Freedom Group has applied for a significant number of top-level domains. These are the endings to web addresses — everything to the right of the dot. The last time anybody could apply for a new top-level domain was back in 2012. So it is a significant period of time. With the acceleration of technology and the explosion of AI, there is a requirement for new domains that are more relevant to the way that we do business today. The Domain Name System is a fundamental part of everyday life — most people use it without actually knowing. So it is a significant opportunity and very important to everybody.
Why are you moving forward with this specifically now?
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — which runs the internet — only opened the window in April this year, and it closed on the 12th of August. So it was basically the first time in over a decade that we could apply. We believe there is an opportunity to bring new names to market that are more relevant today than the names that were available 12 years ago. Things have evolved. The emergence of AI, the way that people interact with the internet has changed fundamentally, and we believe that the namespace needs to evolve in line with what people are looking for.
You have compared these domains to valuable real estate. What makes them so valuable?
Domain names are effectively digital real estate. To be clear, we are a registry operator — we run the registry. AI.com, for example, recently sold for over $17 million. In the first instance, that name would have originally been registered for perhaps $15. So the actual incremental growth of value within that asset is massive compared to physical real estate. But this is really more about bringing choice to the market for new technologies where people may not be able to get the .com name they are looking for, and would prefer something more relevant to the audience they are appealing to. It is over eight figures of investment in application fees alone — running into tens of millions of dollars. But we look at this as a ten to twenty year investment which will eventually increase in value ten, twenty, thirty times.
Why is the Middle East specifically important to this plan?
Part of our business is Nova Registry, and we have been active participants in the Domain Days Dubai event for the last couple of years. There is a change of focus in the region — people are looking to invest more in digital assets as opposed to traditional businesses. And with the current global situation around transportation and supply chains, it does not really impact the digital world in the same way. There are no constraints or restrictions, so business can continue to flow freely. People in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are very forward thinking in terms of digital assets and see it as a true investment. It is a very refreshing approach to business.
Who controls the internet's future — and should people be paying more attention to that?
The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers currently oversees the running of the internet. But I think the people who really have a big say in how the internet is run are the actual users themselves. The true fact of the matter is that global commerce runs on domain names. Without the domain name system, global commerce would not be as we know it today — including shows like Fintech TV. Ridesharing apps, restaurant bookings, airline tickets, stock trading — pretty much everything runs on the domain name system. It is one of those strange systems that people take for granted, know very little about, but it is probably one of the most rock solid investments anybody could make.
Vaughn, thank you so much for joining us today.
Appreciate your time. Thank you Johnny.
