NFTs.com: Extra Details of the $15 Million Sale – Buyer and Payment

There has been speculation for some several months that the NFTs.com domain name sold for $15 million. Back in April 2022, I spoke with one domain investor that was 99% sure of the sales price, and just a couple of weeks ago, I spoke with Ian Garner of Domainer.com who all but confirmed the sale, but was waiting for a press release to be created before revealing the news publicly.

That press release was published yesterday, compiled by Escrow.com and Domainer.com, which confirmed that NFTs.com sold for $15 million in a deal facilitated by Domainer.com and GoDaddy, with Escrow.com handling the transaction.

Today, Ian Garner was able to provide me with added details that don’t appear on the published press release.

One of the major areas for speculation is the buyer’s identity. Although the identity hasn’t been explicitly disclosed, Garner has revealed that his company, Domainer.com, acted as the buyer broker in the deal. His client is a digital entrepreneur. Here’s what Garner told me,

I’ve worked with the buyer since 2018 and he’s purchased, over the years, an enviable portfolio of top tier domain names. Many of these names are blockchain oriented although he has deviated into big tech too. The buyer is a serious digital entrepreneur and I’m sure we’ll be seeing exciting things from him in the future!

Garner, a former Uniregistry broker, launched his new brokerage company, Domainer.com, earlier this year. His relationship with NFTs.com’s buyer was likely formed during his tenure at Uniregistry between 2016 and 2019.

There has also been some speculation about how the buyer paid for the domain name. Since NFTs.com is a domain heavily related to the crypto-influenced NFT industry, some have suggested that the domain may have been paid for with some form of cryptocurrency.

According to Garner, that’s false,

There was also some speculation about how the deal was funded so I can clarify that it was entirely cash, there was no cryptocurrencies used to transact.

The NFTs.com sale ranks as the second largest publicly disclosed domain sale to date, according to DNJournal. The name likely sold for far less at one point in time, though, with a 2018 Archive.org capture showing the domain had an asking price of $25,795.

Last year, entrepreneur Alex Dreyfus revealed that the owner of NFTs.com had quoted him $31 million to buy the name. A year later, they settled for $16 million less.