A 10-year-old boy bought a dot-com domain for just Rs 300 using mother’s credit card. Now he sold it for Rs 600 crore in crypto

In 1993, when most homes did not even have internet access, a 10-year-old boy quietly registered a two-letter dot-com domain using his mother’s credit card. He paid just Rs 300. Three decades later, as artificial intelligence powers everything from stock trading to chatbots, that same domain has been sold for Rs 600 crore in a cryptocurrency deal, turning a childhood click into one of the most expensive domain sales ever reported.

AI.com has been sold for $70 million (about Rs 600 crore) in a cryptocurrency deal that is now being described as the largest publicly disclosed domain name sale to date. The buyer is Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek. The seller is Malaysian tech entrepreneur Arsyan Ismail, who first bought the domain in 1993 at the age of 10 for just $100 (around Rs 300 at the time) using his mother’s credit card.

The transaction was completed in April 2025 and paid entirely in cryptocurrency. AI.com officially re-launched during Super Bowl LX, where Crypto.com introduced a new platform focused on “agentic AI”.

A childhood buy that went unnoticed for decades

Arsyan Ismail registered AI.com in 1993. Malaysian publications reported that he picked the name not because he predicted artificial intelligence would become a global industry, but because the letters matched his initials.

At that time, internet access in Malaysia was still rare. The domain remained in his ownership for decades without major public attention.

As artificial intelligence became central to global technology and investment trends, short and rare domain names gained high value. Two-letter domains are extremely limited, and AI.com is among the most recognisable in that category.

Record-setting domain deal

Multiple reports confirmed the $70 million price tag. The sale surpasses the $49.7 million paid for CarInsurance.com in 2010, according to Fintech Malaysia, making it the most expensive publicly reported domain name deal so far.

The payment was made fully in cryptocurrency.

AI.com re-launched during Super Bowl LX as part of Crypto.com’s push into “agentic AI” — personal AI agents designed to send messages, trade stocks and perform tasks across apps.

Marszalek said owning such a category-defining domain was essential to avoid being “commoditised” in the AI race.

A low-profile founder with early tech roots

Though not widely known outside tech circles, Arsyan Ismail has been active in Malaysia’s technology ecosystem for years. He worked on early social networking projects and held roles at Nuffnang and Friendster. He later founded 1337 Tech and has been an early adopter of Bitcoin and other digital assets.

Reports said he received offers as high as $100 million after listing the domain in 2025. However, he finalised the $70 million agreement and advised others not to “over-negotiate with a billionaire.”