Most Expensive Crypto Domains

What Is The Most Expensive Crypto Domain?

The most expensive crypto domain ever sold was “paradigm.eth”, which sold for $1.51 million (420 ETH) on October 9, 2021, as ETH rallied to an all-time high. This makes “paradigm.eth” almost five times more expensive than “000.eth”, the second most expensive crypto domain which sold for $0.32 million.

“000.eth” is also the most expensive crypto domain ever sold among the 999 ENS Domain Club, which represents the first one thousand numbers as Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains, from “000.eth” to “999.eth”.

“abc.eth” is the third most expensive crypto domain sold at $0.25 million. “abc.eth” is the  most expensive three-letter crypto domain, followed by “wei.eth” at $0.14 million and “btc.eth” at $0.12 million.

Despite the limited supply and exclusivity of three-character crypto domains, only “000.eth” and “abc.eth” are among the 10 most expensive crypto domains. Most of the top 10 crypto domain sales were instead for longer crypto domains with 5 to 14 characters.

The top 10 most expensive crypto domains ever sold are currently all ENS domains. This suggests that crypto domains provided by ENS are considered the most valuable, given that ENS has been a pioneer and established player in the decentralized identity space since 2017.
 

Top 10 Most Expensive Crypto Domains Ever Sold

What Is The Most Expensive Unstoppable Domains?

“business.crypto” is the most expensive crypto domain by Unstoppable Domains, after it was sold for $0.12 million in 2022. Even so, the most expensive ENS domain “paradigm.eth” cost 12.5 times more than the most expensive Unstoppable Domains “business.crypto”.

The second and third most expensive Unstoppable Domains are both adult-themed, namely "sex.crypto" with a sale price of $0.09 million and"sex69.crypto" with a sale price of $0.07 million. In comparison, ENS’ adult-themed crypto domain “porno.eth” sold for over twice their price at $0.20 million.

However, the most expensive Unstoppable Domains have been unable to reach the top 10 most expensive crypto domains. This highlights the demand to own an ENS domain on Ethereum, which is currently the most popular layer 1 by trading volume and total value locked (TVL).

What Are Crypto Domains?

Crypto domains are blockchain-based domains that help simplify computer-readable identifiers such as Ethereum, web3 wallets and crypto addresses, which consist of random and extended characters into memorable or human-readable names, like “coingecko.eth”. Thus, they help minimize the risk of sending crypto to the wrong addresses. Like web2 domains, they host decentralized websites and operate on blockchain networks, offering enhanced security and decentralized ownership.

While there are multiple crypto domain providers, the most popular providers include Unstoppable Domains (offering extensions such as ".crypto", ".nft", and more) and Ethereum Name Service (ENS).

When Were The Most Expensive Crypto Domains Sold?

6 of the 10 most expensive crypto domains were sold in 2022. The 6 most expensive crypto domains sold in 2022 sold have an average price of $0.22 million: “000.eth”, “abc.eth”, “deepak.eth”, “porno.eth”, “ensmaxisnft.eth” and “opensea.eth”.

5 out of the 6 of the most expensive crypto domains sold in 2022 were sold between May to August, coinciding with the peak of ENS trading volume. Notable ENS sales during that time include “opensea.eth” and “❤‍🔥.eth”, both sold for $0.16 million. These significant sales ignited a frenzy to discover the next potentially valuable crypto domain, ranging from 3-digit and 3-letter crypto domains to single-emoji crypto domains, as well as crypto domains that may attract interest from larger companies. 

The frenzy to acquire these fixed supply crypto domains spread to Unstoppable Domains, resulting in a surge in trading volume for Unstoppable Domains in August 2022 and a subsequent peak in October 2022. As an example, “888.nft” sold for $0.02 million in October 2022, coinciding with the second peak in Unstoppable Domains’ trading volume since August 2022, followed by a gradual decline. On the other hand, the other 3 most expensive Unstoppable Domains were sold in April 2022, before the trading volume peak later during the year.

Are Crypto Domains More Expensive Than Web2 Domains?

The most expensive web2 domain ever sold was “voice.com” at $30.00 million, or almost 20 times the price of the most expensive web3 domain"paradigm.eth".

The price gap between the subsequent most expensive web2 and web3 domains widens significantly, with web2 domains selling for nearly 50 times the price of their web3 counterparts.
Although “voice.com” and “NFTs.com” are web2 domains, they are closely tied to web3 products whereby “voice.com” hosts a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace platform while the "NFTs.com" domain is dedicated to the representation of NFTs. The third most expensive web2 domain is adult-themed, namely “sex.com”, which was sold for $13.00 million. In comparison, the web3 adult-themed domain “porno.eth” sold for $0.2 million, 65 times lower in price compared to “sex.com”.

Most Expensive Web2 Domain vs Crypto Domain

Methodology

This study examined the top sales of crypto domains across the top crypto domain providers - Ethereum Name Services (ENS), Unstoppable Domains, SpaceID, and Lens, from inception to May 31, 2023. Sale prices were converted to USD according to CoinGecko price data at the time of sale.

Data for Crypto Domains were obtained from Footprint Analytics, while data for Web2 Domains was obtained from DN Journal. Off-chain sales and sales that were flagged as wash trading were excluded.

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Curious to find out more about our previous research studies? Check out this one we did on the Most Expensive NFT Art.