Anguilla’s .ai Domain Is Generating $3.8M Per Month For The Small Caribbean Territory
Anguilla, an internally self-governing overseas territory of the UK, is making £3 million ($3.8M) per month from its .ai domain.
Anguilla, the British territory in the Caribbean, has fewer than 20,000 people on the island. However, its code top-level domain (ccTLD) is wanted by many for AI startups.
“I knew way back that .ai could end up being used for AI, that it could be valuable someday. But it was a question of when right?” Vincent Cate, president at DataHaven.Net Ltd, which handles sales of the .ai domain for the ANgulliance government, told Rest of World.
“It really, really took off in November 2022 when ChatGPT came out. The sales have gone up a lot since then.”
Websites currently using the domain include office.ai, jasper.ai, replika.ai, and Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI, which launched its Grok chatbot from its X.ai web domain last month.
The rewards from selling web addresses are considerable, according to Rest of World.
Cate estimates the revenue generated by Anguilla’s .ai domain – around £3 million ($3.8M) per month – currently accounts for around a third of the government’s monthly budget.
The .ai Domain
Before modern internet was created, the two-letter country codes were created as part of an international standard, ISO 3166-1 1974.
Anguilla has held the .ai domain since 1995 and reports that companies register 21,000 new .ai domains monthly.
In October, Sedo’s domain name marketplace reported that its largest sale was You.ai, which sold for $700,000.
According to The Independent, web hosting firm Fasthosts claimed that the revenue stream could fund “the entire government” and eliminate all taxes for island residents.
However, the Anguillan government has already stated its intention to invest the money to boost its economy.
The government said the funds would generate revenue, assist residents in accessing government services, assist local businesses, and market Anguilla globally.
