A year ago Nova Registry, the company behind .link, announced that it planned to apply for 200 top level domain names in the round that opens this year.

Today, Vaughn Liley, general manager of Nova Registry, comes on the show to give an update about the company's plans. We have a wide ranging conversation about running top level domains, how the 2026 round will be different from last time, the policy behind web3 integration, and much more.

Also: GoDaddy and Escrow earnings, premium domains

Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfers

By now, you've surely heard about the record-shattering $70 million sale of ai.com.

After the sale was announced, there were many erroneous news reports claiming that the seller had purchased the domain decades ago for $100. This isn't true, and anyone who pays attention to the domain business knows this. About five years ago, Saw.com brokered the sale of the domain, and this was widely reported in the press.

On today's show, Saw.com founder Jeff Gabriel provides details on the previous sale of the valuable domain name and how the artificial intelligence market has changed since then. Also, I dig into the numbers a bit: the domain was bought and sold with cryptocurrency, so the seller's return wasn't quite what it seems. (But still, nothing to sneeze at!)

Jeff also shares data about which countries and states are the most likely to convert to sales when you receive leads. This is valuable information!

Also: GoDaddy's crazy terms, UDRP decline, and tax form relief

Sponsor: Spaceship SellerHub

This month's Super Bowl featured a lot of great commercials, including one that the entire domain name industry can get behind. Squarespace's commercial featured actress Emma Stone, who searches and finds out that EmmaStone.com is taken. The ad tells people to get their domain before it's gone.

While EmmaStone.com was taken, Stone acquired the domain late last year.

On today's show, the domain broker who helped make that happen, Brian Harbin of Grit Brokerage, tells the story of how the deal came together.

We also talk about some of the other Super Bowl commercials and the domains in them, including ai.com.

Videos mentioned in this episode:

Super Bowl commercial extended cut

The Negotiation

A Message from Emma Stone

Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

About one year after retiring from GoDaddy, Bob Mountain is back in the domain industry as the Chief Commercial and Revenue Officer for D3 Global.

On today's show, Bob explains why he believes in D3's mission of marrying the DNS with blockchain technology. He discusses how this can benefit both domain investors and registrars.

Also: Verisign's plans, Emma Stone, Bed Bath & Beyond, .ai price increase and more

Sponsor: Sell your domains with Sav.com domain landers

After a year of strong growth at its domain name registrar, Unstoppable Domains is looking forward to building on the momentum in 2026.

On today's show, Unstoppable CEO Matthew Gould explains the company's strategy, and why he Unstoppable Domains will continue to attract domain investors.

Matthew also discussed the Unstoppable's plans to apply for new top level domain names with ICANN this year.

Also: Mtn is back, Monaco rolls the dice, .AI hits new heights.

Sponsor: Sav.com backorders

Earlier this month, Internet Commerce Association held its annual meeting in Las Vegas. As I often do at domain events, I walked around with a recorder to get peoples' thoughts about domain names.

On today's show, you'll hear from people about the state of the market, giving their thoughts about the meeting, and talking about new domain services.

Also: Domain parking, hidden gems, and cybersquatting lawsuits

Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfers

On recent episodes, domain investors Doron Vermaat and Braden Pollock have shared their domain sales results from the past year. There will be more episodes like this in the future. But this week, I'm going to share my sales results for 2025.

The year ended well for me, but I have high goals for 2026. I also share how I plan to do things differently in my portfolio going forward.

Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

With 2025 in the books, I will be interviewing a handful of domain investors in the coming months to ask them how the year was for them.

I find these interviews insightful, as they let you dig into other investors' strategies, understand pricing, and improve your domain investing prowess.

Today, I'm talking to Doron Vermaat. Doron is a long time domain investor and co-founder of domain sales platform Efty.

If there's one takeaway from today's interview, I think it should be that there are many ways to make good money in domain investing outside of .com.

Also: Domain stocks, new top level domains and more

Sponsor: Sell your domains with Sav.com domain landers

Could AI agents use the domain name system to improve trust and discovery? That's the idea behind Agent Name Service, a proposal from GoDaddy. On today's show, James Bladel explains what it is, and how it could become reality.

James, who is VP of Corporate and Government Affairs at GoDaddy, also discusses his appointment to the Internet Commerce Association's board, as well as what policy issues we should keep an eye on in 2026 and beyond.

It's the annual predictions episode! On today's show, you'll hear from 26 people in the domain name industry. Each person will say what they found notable about 2025 and what they expect will happen in 2026.

Happy New Year!

Sponsor: Sav.com backorders