Namecheap scores deal to sell expiring .AI domain names

Namecheap has won the right to auction expiring registry .ai domain names going forward.

The company’s CEO, Richard Kirkendall, noted the change in a post on X today.

Earlier in the day, Vincent Cate, who ran the .ai registry until Identity Digital took it over last month, sent a message to some customers noting, “Due to circumstances beyond our control, we can no longer do auctions at auction.whois.ai.”

Practically speaking, most customers bought expiring domain names through Dynadot, which managed the auctions on behalf of the .ai registry.

A change to the auctions was not entirely unexpected. Last month, Ram Mohan, Chief Strategy Officer of Identity Digital, told Domain Name Wire that it was reviewing the expired domain auction process with Anguilla’s government.

Namecheap will run daily auctions on its auction platform compared to the monthly auctions that were occurring at Dynadot.