In 2019, Block.one acquired Voice.com from MicroStrategy for $30 million, which set the record as the most expensive publicly-disclosed domain sale of all time. The sale was facilitated by GoDaddy and naturally, there was plenty of interest and scrutiny after the sale.
Block.one put Voice.com to work hosting a blockchain-based social media platform, described as a decentralized version of Facebook or Medium. However, the platform didn’t really gain any traction, and it seems Block.one is going to put its $30 million domain to use as an NFT platform instead.
As of writing, Voice.com hosts a plain landing page, informing visitors that the new website will be up and running in the summer.
The pivot to an NFT platform was confirmed by Voice’s CEO Salah Zalatimo on Twitter:
<2/8>
We have just closed @VoiceHQ to the public for the next 3 months while we upgrade from a fungible token-based social platform to a non-fungible token-based social platform. I would like to share with our community more insight into that decision and on our future.— Salah Zalatimo (@Salafel) May 4, 2021
In April 2021, SimilarWeb estimated Voice.com’s traffic to be 468,000 visitors per month. While that’s significant for many sites or businesses, Voice.com’s aspirations were always higher, as the Facebook comparisons suggested. After what could be deemed a social media flop behind them, Voice’s owners will be hoping that the new NFT platform will finally put its $30 million domain in the global spotlight.
Hello, James,
We are here to tell you, This record will surely be supplanted.
JAS 5/16/2021
Gratefully, and Respectfully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP) Metal Tiger
Former : (Strategic Marketing Analyst/Strategist Rockefeller I.B.E.C.)
licensed C,B.O.E. Commoditty Hedge Strategist) Domain Master
(UseBiz.com)
When the NFT platform doesn’t work either?
Then what?
They could have used a better domain like NFTs.com or NIFTIES.com