Chinese domain sales report.
Yesterday we broke the news of new Chinese regulatory changes; China’s government is getting ready to turn the country’s online presence into a large “white list.”
No longer satisfied with black-listing domains, the Chinese government plans to enforce the voluntary approval of TLDs other than .CN, one by one.
Soon, one would have to get the Chinese government’s seal of approval in order to operate in China.
Although the proposal hasn’t been turned into a law yet, there is little chance that this brain-child of “Communist Capitalism” will be altered substantially.
Will this be the tombstone on the Chinese domain market focusing on “Chips” and other liquid domains?
Popular domain investor, Mike Berkens seems to think so.
We’ve been witnessing some sizable domain portfolios being sold, and not just by the Chinese.
Today’s list of short domain sales in .CN and .COM contains several domain “Chips” sold by a “Ken O’Brien.” The name means very little in Pinyin, so he’s most likely of Irish background.
gpyc.com
jmkb.com
jrmb.com
kstg.com
lwyd.com
swcr.com
wgpm.com
Ken sold some more of those beauties yesterday, so check out that list as well.
Today’s list of short domains of between 2 to 4 characters completes as follows:
xl.cn
767.cn
drh.cn
hpt.cn
jgt.cn
jzm.cn
mdr.cn
qe.com
rcd.cn
rkn.cn
cqq.com
czr.com
qgw.com
tlw.com
tyj.com
6216.com
6576.com
hzqm.com
mcdb.com
qcbb.com
qqzn.com
wzcn.com
yjxk.com
yyzn.com
The volume of Chinese domain sales has definitely increased. We anticipate more of this activity as we’re moving into the 2nd quarter of 2016 – the Year of the Monkey business.
Wouldn’t such a move (Chinese government plans to enforce the voluntary approval of TLDs other than .CN, one by one.) also open up the door to extortion/strong arming? Basically allowing the Chinese Government to put price tags on extensions usage in their country and forcing registries to pay a fee for each?
If that type of situation comes to pass, it will open the door to other countries following suit and registries may find them self in a uphill battle trying to hold onto potential customers as each countries door closes and more access fee’s are imposed that will eat away at the smaller registries profit margins.
In short, such a move would single handedly result in all the struggling extensions shutting down.
Eric – The scenarios you mentioned are all plausible. North Korean Internet access? Forget about it. Even Cuba with its limited Internet adoption doesn’t go as far as China does.