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The founder of cryptocurrency trading site Crypto.com has bought AI.com for $70mn, the highest price ever disclosed for a domain name sale, to launch a new entrant to the artificial intelligence race. <\/p>\n
Kris Marszalek, co-founder and chief executive of Crypto.com, plans to debut AI.com in a Super Bowl ad this weekend. The site will offer a personal \u201cAI agent\u201d that consumers can use to send messages, use apps and trade stocks. <\/p>\n
\u201cLast year an opportunity came up for me to acquire this domain and I thought if you take a long-term view \u2014 10 to 20 years \u2014 that [AI] is going to be one of the greatest technological waves of our lifetime. And so it would be a good investment,\u201d Marszalek told the FT. <\/p>\n
Marszalek did not comment on the purchase price, which was confirmed by the deal\u2019s broker, Larry Fischer of GetYourDomain.com. <\/p>\n
The $70mn sum was paid to an undisclosed seller entirely in cryptocurrency, Fischer told the FT, who said it was the largest such sale ever disclosed. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith assets like\u00a0AI.com, there are no substitutes,\u201d said Fischer. \u201cWhen one becomes available, the opportunity may never present itself again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marszalek launched Crypto.com into an already crowded market of cryptocurrency exchanges in 2016. He said its annual revenues have grown to some $1.5bn. Crypto.com has struck several large deals<\/a> with the Trump family\u2019s media company Trump Media & Technology Group.<\/p>\n Splashy marketing tie-ups, including sports sponsorships and celebrity endorsements, have played a big role in crypto.com\u2019s rise. <\/p>\n