AI.com Acquired for Record-Breaking $70 Million to Launch Agentic AI Platform

In a transaction that marks a watershed moment for the artificial intelligence industry and digital real estate markets alike, the domain name ai.com has been sold for an unprecedented $70 million. The acquisition, finalized in April 2025 but publicly unveiled in February 2026, represents the highest publicly disclosed price ever paid for a standalone domain name, significantly surpassing the previous record of $49.7 million for CarInsurance.com and the $30 million paid for Voice.com in 2019.

The Strategic Pivot to Agentic AI

The buyer has been revealed as Kris Marszalek, the co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com. Rather than simply serving as a landing page for existing crypto services, the domain is being repurposed as the cornerstone of a new, independent platform dedicated to "agentic AI." The new ai.com platform, which officially launched during a high-profile Super Bowl LX commercial, aims to move beyond simple chatbots like ChatGPT to offer autonomous personal agents.

According to the company, the vision for ai.com is to provide users with a private, decentralized network of agents capable of executing complex, real-world tasks. These include:

• Automating multi-step professional workflows and project management.
• Executing financial transactions and stock trades autonomously.
• Managing personal schedules and cross-app communication.
• Learning and sharing capability improvements across a decentralized network.

Marszalek has stated that the acquisition is a long-term bet on the "agentic" era of computing, where AI transitions from a tool for information retrieval to a proactive participant in the user's daily life.

A Nomadic History: From OpenAI to xAI

The ai.com domain has been one of the most closely watched assets in the tech world for years. Its ownership has long been shrouded in mystery due to a series of high-profile redirects. In early 2023, the domain famously began redirecting to OpenAI's ChatGPT, leading many to believe Sam Altman’s firm had purchased the asset. However, by August 2023, the redirect shifted to Elon Musk’s xAI (Grok), and it later briefly pointed toward Google’s Gemini and the Chinese LLM DeepSeek in early 2025.

These shifts fueled intense speculation among domain brokers and tech enthusiasts. It is now understood that during this period, the domain remained in the hands of a private seller, serving as a high-traffic gateway that changed its destination based on temporary licensing or partnership agreements. The final sale to Marszalek ends years of speculation, firmly anchoring the domain to a dedicated product roadmap.

The Seller’s Story: A Three-Decade Investment

The seller has been identified as Arsyan Ismail, a Malaysian tech entrepreneur who originally registered the domain in 1993. In a detail that has captivated the tech community, Ismail reportedly purchased the domain as a 10-year-old using his mother’s credit card for a mere $100. At the time, the choice of "AI" was not a bet on artificial intelligence, but rather a reflection of his own initials. Ismail held the domain for over 30 years, witnessing its value grow from a personal identifier to the most coveted two-letter .com in the modern tech ecosystem.

Transaction Details and Market Impact

The $70 million deal was brokered by Larry Fischer of GetYourDomain.com and John Mauriello of DomainAssets.com. Notably, the transaction was paid entirely in cryptocurrency—specifically CRO tokens, the native digital asset of the Crypto.com ecosystem. This method of payment reflects the growing intersection between the blockchain and AI sectors, as founders in both spaces seek to build decentralized alternatives to the "Big Tech" AI status quo.

Market analysts suggest that the $70 million price tag is a reflection of the extreme scarcity of short, category-defining domains. As AI continues to dominate global venture capital and consumer interest, the value of the primary entry point for the term "AI" has become nearly immeasurable. This sale is expected to trigger a re-valuation of other high-tier technology domains and highlights the massive capital being deployed to capture the user-interface layer of the AI revolution.