After losing $341 million and wallowing in the mired wake of his business failure, Mark Karpeles, the founder of once dominant, now tragic Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox is auctioning off Bitcoins.com on July 24, 2014.
The domain, expected to fetch at least $750,000 or 1,200 Bitcoins, with an opening bid of $185,000, will be sold as a part of Heritage’s 2014 Domain Names Signature Auction. Bitcoins.com is perhaps the highest-profile auction till date in the Bitcoin related web addresses.
Currently, Bitcoins.com is more likely a guide with clear and precise explanations on what Bitcoin is, why use Bitcoin, how Bitcoin works, getting started with Bitcoins, and still suggests buying Bitcoins at the now-bankrupt exchange Mt. Gox.
Karpeles said that the company is hoping to provide some kind of relief to the customers impacted by the bankruptcy with the sale of the domain. He vowed to distribute “at least half of the sale amount” to the beleaguered exchange’s creditors.
Founder and Director of the Domain Names & Intellectual Property category at Heritage Auctions, Aron Meystedt, noting that Bitcoins.com is “absolutely the best remaining” in the Bitcoin-related web address market, said it is a “golden opportunity” for the right investor as the Bitcoin.com – singular version is already in tied up with a 5-year deal with Blockchain.info, one of the world’s most popular Bitcoin wallet, the domain name Bitcoinwallet.com is also in use.
The news comes after the recent revelations that the bankrupt exchange Mt. Gox paid almost $200,000 in fees to Tibanne K.K., its parent company, after filing for bankruptcy.
Karpeles has earlier indicated that he is planning to auction off the domain name assets including bitcoins.com and akb.com as a part of his efforts to return some funds.
The auction of Bitcoins.com is expected to fetch a high price as the Heritage is the third-largest auction house in the world, with more than 850,000 bidders and annual sales exceeding $900m per year.
Bitcoins.com is offered alongside around 90 other premium domain names on the July 24, 2014 auction including DEC.com, which is said to be the fifth oldest domain name on the Internet, OklahomaCity.com, Rides.com, Digital.com, SEM.com and Cute.com.
