HandyCon 2025 | Day 1 - Investing in Web3 Domains – Value, Vision, and the Privacy-Security Edge - YouTube

Transcript:
(00:01) [Music] [Applause] so we have a panel investing in web three domains with Marcus Andrews there he is I love domains it's better known as I love domains and Vita V should be coming up too and how you been Marcus been a been a while yeah I'm doing pretty good mic check hopefully you can hear me I hear you I hear you yeah doing well as always man just staying on this course trying to trying to push web three domains to the masses exactly yeah I'm just making sure Vita's here but maybe yeah in she's here she's
(00:47) here okay great there she is hey VA all right so I'll let you two handle it and I'll be in the back if you need me just call me yeah absolutely how you doing today Vera I'm fine how are you I'm doing awesome as well okay wonderful I guess we can both Begin by introducing ourselves and then we can we can kind of get into it I do have a couple things prepared so sure you want to go first or me what ladies first go ahead and introduce yourself okay well I am VA Ridgeway and in terms of handshake I got
(01:20) involved um with handshake well actually I first got involved with domain um you know when Co happened and Clubhouse was popular and I ventured into to a room talking about domain investing and as a marketer and someone who works with clients I had been collecting domain names for probably 15 20 years maybe and ended up with about a 100 or 50 or so just but not for investment more like protection so like whenever I thought of an idea or something like that just because I know the domain name would be gone if I waited I would register it
(01:58) however I did not know or had not even thought about this whole Big Industry behind domain names or that a domain name could sell for a million or two million or $30 millionar right and so then when I started to learn more about domains and domain investing I went from owning like 150 that I had been holding over like 10 years or more to over maybe, 1500 at one point I don't have that many anymore but anyway along that journey I learned about handshake domains and I was really excited about that especially being a novice to the
(02:34) industry in general and knowing that some of the more coveted names you just wouldn't have access to in the traditional I um system and you definitely wouldn't have access in terms of being a TLD owner so that was really exciting to me especially being somewhat at that time new to domaining in general and so I just di you know right in and got really excited about um handshake and the capability of it or the prospects the future prospects of it and yeah I've been here since so yeah awesome story okay always glad to hear
(03:11) how others kind of discover the space and and web through domains in particular for those of you who don't already know me I'm Marcus Andrews AKA wi air drop I own IH hard domains for many of you me as a fellow investor and collector in the space uh professionally I've been in this particular side of the space which is web through domains for about three years years I am a spaces host and and domain investor obviously I also do business development in the space and then also professionally some of you may have recently know uh that I
(03:39) am the community manager and space's host for free name so I am full-time both working in the space and occasionally and and build a business in the space again I've been hosting a podcast for the past two and a half years now specifically on web through domains and web through domain education many of the members of the handshake Community are actually like directly responsible for me entering in the space in this way and and actually it's going to be part of the opportunity that I'm going to be talking about today which is
(04:05) specifically web3 tlds most of us in the handshake ecosystem are in the ecosystem from that level and and are currently looking at that opportunity and trying to figure out you know how to profit from it so handshake introduced me to that side of the space I've been in that side of the space since and so definitely looking forward to to this topic again sometimes we kind of need a reminder of of why we're here or need kind of like a a pep talk or or know kind of a little bit of coaching on how to profit from these things because a
(04:33) lot of us have bags of web 3 tlds that we may not know what to do with so definitely looking forward to to getting into this conversation and talking about how to invest in web through domains I don't know if you had any thoughts that you wanted to start off with but um if You' like me to start off I can go ahead and do so sure go for it well yeah as I mentioned before the the opportunity that that most that entering in the handshake ecosystem will come face to face with and and the opportunity that I
(04:59) was introduced to is in the web 3 TLD side of the space and and what I kind of wanted to do during this talk was talk about the opportunity almost like the people here again are hearing it for the first time because again you never know when somebody kind of needs a refresher as we all know web through domains is the new digital real estate um they aren't just personal addresses these are real onchain assets meaning that you fully own them you can trade them you can use them across many decentralized assets as
(05:27) I stated before personally here at ihart domains I primarily focused on acquiring web three top level domains for multiple main spaces and what that means is that I'm not just buying individual domain names such as your name. nft or my name. eth buying entire web3 domain name spaces I think this is a gamechanging opportunity and a unique opportunity for those of us who are able to invest at this level and so I hope that this talk illustrates that know a lot of us again when we see the current market and we
(05:56) see the money that's flowing in the market the trading that's going to the market it's primar happening at the level again the year name. nft the whatever it is e but I truly believe that the bigger play is and always has been web3 tlds again gives you the opportunity to own and control an entire name space but it it creates an income flow that doesn't exist with traditional domains right the only way you can make money from an sld is either build on it and then you're monetizing what you
(06:23) built or sell it one to one to someone else who's able to see the same value that you're you're trying to get from it however with TDS you have a limited stream of income you're able to sell what's personal to mean something to someone else as a sub asset on that asset and you're able to even match that price to what you think that name is worth whether it's premium or non- premium for Branding and for communities you know one of the things that I talk about constantly on my spaces is that
(06:48) the power we haven't even realized as far as individual communities using these tlds in order to personalize experiences in order to to identify members of the communities for rewards things of that nature but the power of tlds again for what you can build with it extends far beyond just the individual monetary opportunity from selling one domain to another person and then last but not least is we're in an emerging technology right now and we all have and and have taken advantage of the opportunity to invest in this space
(07:18) extremely early we have no clue as to where it's going the conversations that we've been having over the past couple of years about domains and about their utility and about what they'll do in the future those conversations are shifting we we've we've kind of gotten past a lot of those goal posts and we're starting to see more of what's possible instead of Downing and so being early now especially those again who are sitting on bags of the mains that are trying to figure out what do I do with these this
(07:44) might be the time to really start looking into that bag and looking this opportunity because a lot of the why has been starting to make sense or being made make sense by a lot of people who are now starting to build and create Partnerships with these tlds hopefully that wasn't too long wouldn't it but love to hear your input on that sure I I I totally agree with regard to emerging technology I kind of think that in the decentralized domain name space that right now is kind of a perfect storm um Perfect Storm between domain names
(08:14) digital assets digital identity um cryptocurrency adoption the evolution of AI and AI agents and all of that coming together so if you were early with H&S then now you can really see some of the true possibil that we probably didn't even think of two or three years ago because again AI wasn't as popular or evolved as it is today and some of the possibilities that have become um obvious now with some of the things that um are capable all that H&S is capable of doing I think it's really intriguing and even more so
(08:52) specifically with hns for me it's like when you think of other not to really talk about other protocols but when you think of like or whatever for me I kind of see ens I think it kind of got popular really with nfts and the whole nft boom and I kind of see it more like the whole do e after your name and all that as more like a flex or a vanity play to kind of like say hey I'm here in the space or whatever I you know I'm not an Nory kind of thing or whatever but I think that with H&S and the reason why I
(09:24) went all in on that as opposed to NS is because of the protocol and the capability of the protocol and the basically the the the functionality and Beyond what e ens has to offer that's one thing and then also I think that in this current political clim with everything happening in people really being more concerned about their data and having control over their data and personal information and wanting to have real free speech and be s censorship resistant I think that it's perfect for that as well yeah AB
(10:05) absolutely I I I agree with all that one of the things I did want to say too and I I see all the questions or or should I say comments in the chat I I love it to death bro ask as many questions as you guys want to one of the things that I did want to talk about since the subject matter is investing in domains is probably the best advice that I could possibly give anybody which is to be Diversified and that's something that I've said from the start since day one and in this space I've never taken sides
(10:32) I've never been a maxi I've never said that one protocol is better than the other the rest of them have to not exist in order for the other ones to be successful when we're talking about purely investment stratey strategy right which is the topic of this particular talk it's not about decentralization it's not about ethos it's not about saving the world it's about investing meaning you're putting money into something and wanted to get a return from it being a maxi in the space or
(10:58) going all in on a protocol is probably the least productive thing you can do and I think time has shown that right so all the spaces and and for instance a couple of the questions here a lot of it's talking about Unstoppable but Unstoppable for instance right not necessarily a personal fan of Unstoppable do I have a bag there sure am I friends with them no I have no relationship with UD but I can't also negate at the same time some of the things that they have done to progress the space because they have done things
(11:28) to progress the space they built relation ships they put money in places where some protocols don't even have any money and they've gain aware and gotten awareness for wey domains in places where some of us still have no presence one day what they've done is going to benefit you the same thing with ens the only reason people are able to use and understand how web through domains even works I mean we all talk about it it sounds good but those actually work and people are able to come into the space
(11:54) today and in some protocols even for free with ens subdomains from like bass and stuff like that people are able to come and use and get a a head start on what these domains even do and then that brings them into the rest of the space people are not going to come into this space automatically knowing what decentralization is automatically attach that ethos and automatically trying to save the world some people are going to come into the space with stupid pictures are going to get an nft domain from somewhere else first and then find us
(12:21) and when you're talking about wanting to get a return on your investment it would behoove you to place yourself in those spots irregardless of how you feel about the naming protocols that's what I had to say on that one and yeah free name and UD are not at all related okay awesome well I agree so I believe that at this point it's all a little speculative right and so it's probably prudent to headed your Bets with regard to the different platforms available and also what you said about kind of what comes out in wash so yes
(12:54) some of what a lot of the other protocols have done have introduced people to the space but when you delve in and this is I think what happened for me is when you delve in and you learn more about the space and if you want to do something that is beyond I'm I'm I'm just a part of the community so I want to own a name but if you're thinking about really building if you're thinking about investing then once you do your research I think that what comes out in the wash is that hns is is is the best protocol
(13:26) to do that yes there is still a lot of development that needs to happen a lot of adoption that needs to happen a lot of marketing that needs to happen but I do think that if you are truly talking about a long-term investment and if you are truly talking about staying power I think that hns is definitely the better bet um when you're hedging those bets so if you're if you're if you're like kind of taking it all in I think that it's a smart investment to make sure you like you said have a bag over here for sure yeah
(14:04) and I can understand why I mean probably everybody in this community would take that stance and and again diversification that's essentially what that means right you you can you can lean heavily on one protocol over the other you can even internally have a favorite not saying not to still hate the other protocols I'm just saying from a smart investment position if you're trying to get a return on the investment that to ignore the progress of other protocols just because you don't like them is just ridiculous right it's and
(14:36) and and I'm a personal victim of that many times when I've told my personal story of coming into into the space I've explained that I came into the space as a B&B chain Maxi I I felt like the B&B chain communities were friendly they didn't have any of those weird white lists or didn't have to kiss a bunch of a in order to to to men an nft I mean I liked it over there and I liked it over there so much that we kind of created an anti attitude over there or not the anti eess but anti-e attitude to the point
(15:03) where we were like f e nfts I'm going to ignore new mints that happened over there I'm going to IGN ignore whiteless opportunities that happen over here on East because I'm Pro BNB and it sounded good at the moment except I miss mints like Doodles I miss mints like hudy penguins I miss mints like lazy Lions I faded all of these mints because I had this ethos that B&B chain was the best chin on Earth and even though internally I could feel that way all I wanted to it was just stupid in practice to ignore
(15:32) all of those other nments and so that's what I'm saying again coming back down to investment that means I am taking money from my pocket putting into a naming ecosystem and hoping to get a return on the investment back how many people in this space going all in on this Tech can say that right and that's just being honest with ourselves I'm giving real honest advice and I give this advice I give contrary advice to every naming Community I'm in if it fits right and the advice here is that if if
(15:59) you're ignoring ens you're probably not making any money even now to an extent if you're ignoring UD even though they don't have much of a resale platform you're probably not making money on free name I can show you I've made a whole bunch of money over that platform so if you're ignoring that and you're wanting to build in the tldd space you're probably not making money and so if you're trying to change that it is important to diversify regardless of your feelings I agree with that I I would say
(16:25) that it's kind of some of the things that you named like having Miss Doodles and all of those kind of things for that reason yes but I think that to a large degree for me for me specifically When comparing the the protocols it's kind of a difference in being a consumer or producer so there are some areas where I may want to if I'm a consumer then I may be going all in on on eth or other blockchains for different reasons and and checking out whatever is the newest thing because again it's all speculative
(17:02) we don't ever know really what's going to stick but definitely has some limitations in terms of building it's slow it's expensive and all of that so when you're talking about what has the most growth potential I I do believe like for building and for producers and people wanting to build something with longevity I'm not sure if if if e is is right for that because of the the issues so those are some of the things to consider I do believe but yes I think it's smart to know about everything
(17:39) going on in the space because again it's still although we've been here five years at the same time it's still very early right it's still all very new not only for H&S but for crypto in general a large percentage of the world population doesn't own any crypto doesn't have you know what we're talking about right now it's all Greek to them so it's still very early so we don't know really what is going to be the one thing that sticks so it's good and prudent to to to to
(18:09) kind of maybe if you can invest or learn at least learn about it all yeah no absolutely and again just to to reiterate even outside of I mean the big ones that we continuously talk about such as UD which is our fan favorite here which again got nothing to do with them people and ens free nameing Etc there are also other large naming ecosystems again I agree with you I do feel like handshake has a ton of Promise obviously the the roots and its decentralization are superior to how other systems are rooted obviously
(18:43) utility is going to be key with adopting people but I think again in the sake of diversification and looking outside the box demonizing other ecosystems when they currently work and they have a use case it's probably not a good path moving forward because there's other ecosystems out there that I think are also legit like space ID right space ID is set up on a dow has a token it's tokenized as well integrated into a lot of different D apps runs on B&B chain actually has set up some of the naming
(19:10) systems for quite a few blockchains and there's some legitimate Tech out there there's legitimate Tech supporting F name Serv not SAS name service but it is it's SNS it is s or BTC that's for Stacks name service meaning that's what I meant like that technology works and that technology isn't something that can be currently served by our technology so I mean why would you hate that it exists is the point that I'm making or ignore investing in it because it's different than this and again just coming back to
(19:37) the subject in hand because I'm I I I agree with a lot of comments that people are making that the space and what we're trying to accomplish in it technically no it's not about money right the reason why a lot of us have gotten to this space isn't about money it's about advancing the space in a technical way it may be about protecting yourself from censorship it could be about a lot of things but I'm talking about this toic right here this topic is called investing in web through domains which
(20:03) Again by its definition is money being placed into something with an expectation of return When you either Exit that product or from holding that product and we were talking about that specific subject it is 100% about money okay so when you talking about investing in you know web three domains in general what would you say is some of the or at least one or two of the best use case for the audience of why you should do invest from a consumer perspective the why you should be the end user and buy a domain would be for digital identity so
(20:36) you like the name and aligns with you you can build your personal brand around it and that's why you purchase it and then of course You' start using it at that point for either sending receiving crypto or for reverse resolution Etc if you're an investor the why you should buy a name you start to go with the rules of domaining at that point is it a premium domain name does it have is it getting any inquiries is it something that has any previous sales or anything like that to it you start looking at
(21:00) ecosystems that have more volume than others I mean by now right now it is by far e right it's not even arguable so if you're an investor coming to the space even before I would tell you to buy a free name TLD I'd probably go tell you to buy your name on so the other in this title is about privacy and with regard to the general audience or people who are new to the space like you said talking to people like they don't know anything about it yet or are novice what would you say are some of the reasons with regard
(21:32) to privacy and and data protection yeah for the reasons why somebody should own a domain for privacy and data protection or exactly that right so you have ownership not only of the name itself but you have ownership of the data and Records in it privacy I wouldn't pit so much because I'm not sure that blockchain at all is really private the data isn't what do you call it it isn't um adjustable or you can't like mess with it or alter it but it certainly is in private I wouldn't pitch it from that perspective but as far as
(22:03) like from from a security perspective as far as like again whatever you're connecting to it however you're using it whatever you're building with it knowing that someone can't either censor or take it from you or edit or alter those records without your permission I think that that's a big I think that's a good base for people to build from especially if you if you've had something crumbled or being taken from you before but yeah I mean I don't necessarily pitch privacy I'm s private at all it's pretty wide
(22:28) open okay cool well Mike has a question about could a company that has built its own blockchain bridge over to their own blockchain with a handshake TLD to avoid any issues um that you're outlining with regard to privacy and have more control is that question to me I guess it's to us or me yeah that sounds like super technical so I don't know sounds good though right okay so you're basically saying if someone owns a handshake TLD can they then Bridge it or or whatever use it or somehow connect to it on their
(23:04) own blockchain so that it's a naming service there I mean I would say I suppose they could but the why right and and so again like I'm I'm out here in the field with this and and I have to illustrate that like I I really go places in real life and try to convince people in projects to adopt web three domains and naming and often times I I run into blockchains that have their own naming service and and I can't argue with that because I actually feel that that's how it should be and that's
(23:34) probably going to be the future of things each blockchain will probably have its own naming service because they're going to be better their technology obviously is going to work off the bat right they're building it from scratch but they're also going to be more connected with their community and their Community is going to be more incentivized and aligned with that TLD because it's coming directly from that blockchain like you take the case of Doats for instance I mean like even though UD bought that and then they made
(23:58) their promises with the Bitcoin Community still nothing's come of that right the community for that and the community that's neverly going to push that forward is that community that exists within that blockchain and so while it could happen I I would assume that the only people would buy it would buy it just so it wouldn't compete with them most of these blockchains are are either building their own naming system themselves or or some of them are just partnering with like like I said space ID or ens or
(24:25) whatever we partner with some too well I think we're almost out of time but maybe we can get one more question in it looks like someone here asked how to invest or how much to invest so it does look like we have some new people joining and wanting to learn about the space and maybe we could answer that question and it looks like Mike is coming back in yeah answer that one and then we'll go to next session I'm gonna give the standard answer never afford anything never invest anything you can't afford
(24:50) to lose if it's the how much you should invest yeah I mean you can buy domain names for as little as what 10 cents or $5 up to you know hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on your level of of comfortability and what you think you can get a return from it but yeah that's more than I could afford to lose okay well I will also add that again because H&S is still so new and evolving that it's a great opportunity to invest because it does not take much to invest you just have to learn a little bit
(25:19) about how it works with regard to the auctions and how to acquire a domain but like he said you can really start to invest for as little little as a couple of cents to um someone earlier talked about having um sold a domain for a million HSN which amounted to about 30 grand so at the time so basically you just really have to learn how to open an auction and the great thing about H&S for the new folks is that you can open an auction anybody can open an auction for any name that you want but then other people do have the ability to bid
(25:55) on it so you do have to be diligent about making sure that you are the one who ends up with that name and have enough H&S so that you can outbid the next person if you really want that name so hopefully that answers your question and you'll check it out all right thank you so much thank you this is fun yeah there's definitely cool to see some new people but like like Marcus said of course speculative high high risk hopefully High reward so like yeah don't don't bet your house on it or take a
(26:26) mortgage out or something crazy so thanks thanks Marcus thank you f really appreciate you coming again and sharing with us your experiences insights thank you it was definitely a pleasure glad to be here thank you ditto [Music] [Music] this event wouldn't be possible without our amazing sponsors our bronze sponsors dweb Foundation DX our community sponsors handshake Australia name base DEC centralizers
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