When Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek spent $8 million on an ad during the Super Bowl, only for users to see a 504 error page, the $70 million domain deal instantly became the biggest irony in the tech world.
1. From 620,000 Bitcoins mishap to $70 million domain: a magical weekend in the crypto world.
The second weekend of February 2025 saw two absurd dramas unfold in the cryptocurrency market.
First was the 'nuclear-level fat finger' incident at South Korea's second-largest exchange, Bithumb. During the 'random treasure chest' promotion on the evening of February 6, staff mistakenly input the reward unit as 'Bitcoin' instead of 'Korean Won', resulting in 249 users each receiving 2,490 BTC, totaling 620,000 Bitcoins (worth about $41.5 billion) being erroneously airdropped. This number is equivalent to 14.5 times the actual amount of Bitcoins held by Bithumb, triggering the 'ghost Bitcoin' controversy. Although the exchange froze related accounts within 35 minutes and recovered 99.7% of the assets, the price of Bitcoin on the platform had already plummeted by 17% to $55,000, leading to a panic sell-off in the global market.
Just as the market had not yet calmed down from this blunder, another piece of news exploded in the tech circle: the top-level domain ai.com was sold for $70 million (approximately 485 million yuan), setting a new global record for domain transactions. The buyer is not OpenAI, nor Musk, but Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency trading platform Crypto.com.
The price of this transaction is more than double the $30 million record set by Voice.com in 2019, and even exceeds the $11 million listing price of the domain in 2023. More notably, the entire transaction was paid in cryptocurrency, facilitated by domain broker Larry Fischer, and the identity of the seller remains a mystery.
2. The Two-Three Year Domain Name Turf War: From OpenAI to xAI's 'For Sale' Game
The history of the ai.com domain itself is a chronicle of internet business history. The domain was registered in May 1993 and has been over 30 years.
After the explosion of ChatGPT in November 2022, the AI concept became extremely popular, and the value of domain names soared. In February 2023, market rumors suggested that OpenAI bought the domain for $11 million, which was later confirmed to be fake news. In August 2023, the domain suddenly redirected to Musk's xAI official website, sparking a new round of speculation.
However, Musk has remained silent on this. The market gradually understands: changing domain name pointers is just a marketing tactic by the holder, aimed at creating topics and raising value. This 'for sale' strategy ultimately worked — when Crypto.com's Marszalek initiated the acquisition process in April 2025, the price had soared to $70 million.
Marszalek does not hide his ambitions: 'AI will become a key technological wave that changes the world in the next 10 to 20 years', 'Back then, we broke through among thousands of cryptocurrency trading platforms, and this time will also make ai.com successful again.' He even revealed that he has received a 'ridiculously high' resale offer but still chooses to hold.
3. The 504 Embarrassment of the Super Bowl: A Globalization Test of the Makeshift Team
On February 8, during the Super Bowl, Marszalek fulfilled his promise by officially launching the ai.com platform through a television advertisement, claiming to create a 'one-stop personal AI assistant' that supports stock trading, automated workflows, scheduling, and other autonomous AI agency functions.
However, the $70 million domain name plus the $8 million Super Bowl advertisement (the price revealed by Nvidia engineer yuhang) resulted in a 504 gateway timeout error within less than 48 hours of going live. Users on social media joked: 'The whole world is just a bigger makeshift team.'
This downtime incident not only exposed the hurried technical preparations but also reflected the cryptocurrency sector's chronic issue of 'heavy marketing, light infrastructure'. Although Crypto.com is known for acquiring naming rights for the Los Angeles stadium for $700 million and heavily sponsoring sports events, it has repeatedly failed in core product stability.
As of the time of writing, ai.com has returned to normal, allowing users to register subdomains. However, the market remains cautious about its promised 'autonomous AI Agent' — after all, if even website stability can't be guaranteed, how can it execute high-risk operations like 'representing users in stock trading'?
4. The 'Mainstreaming' Divide of Cryptocurrency Tycoons: Buying Houses, Buying Power, and Buying Domains
The ai.com transaction has unveiled another dimension of cryptocurrency mainstreaming: when the industry accumulates vast wealth, the tycoons are seeking 'legitimacy' through completely different paths.
Real Estate Faction: Aave founder Stani Kulechov bought a luxury home in Notting Hill, London for £22 million (approximately $30 million) last November, following the traditional rich man's asset allocation route.
Energy Faction: Justin Sun is even more aggressive. Through his family office SunFund Energy, he acquired two small hydropower stations in Norway in November 2024, with a total installed capacity of 86 megawatts and an annual electricity generation of about 350 GWh, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 40,000 European households. In the AI maritime era, Sun holds the 'power ticket' — this is not only a hedge against physical assets but also a forward-looking layout of computing power infrastructure. In addition, he invested $100 million to promote the integration of AI and blockchain and took a stake in a nuclear energy startup.
Diversification Faction: Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has spread stablecoin profits across 140 investments in agriculture, sports, etc., with gold reserves exceeding $23 billion and plans to expand the workforce to 450 people.
Brand Faction: Marszalek's $70 million domain acquisition is the most aggressive bet on the 'attention economy'. Crypto.com’s trading volume reached $12.9 trillion in 2024, a 1000% increase year-on-year, and its marketing-driven model has been validated, but whether it can be replicated in the AI field remains unknown.
5. Conclusion: From the 'Wild West' to Infrastructure, The Coming of Age of Cryptocurrency
Bithumb's 620,000 bitcoin blunder and the $70 million transaction with ai.com seem polar opposites but point to the same reality: cryptocurrency is embedding itself into mainstream narratives as a payment currency, asset class, and symbol of figures, yet the maturity of industry infrastructure has not kept pace with the speed of capital expansion.
When Sun acquires hydropower stations, Marszalek buys AI.com, and Tether hoards gold, they are essentially answering the same question: how to anchor 'virtual' wealth to 'real' assets?
Korean regulators have intervened in the Bithumb incident investigation, requiring the implementation of a two-factor approval system; meanwhile, the U.S. SEC's review of cryptocurrency ETFs and the EU's MiCA regulations are compressing the survival space of the 'makeshift team' in the industry.
Perhaps the 504 error of ai.com and Bithumb's fat finger incident are the necessary growing pains as cryptocurrency moves from the 'Wild West' to a mature financial system. When $70 million can buy a domain but not a stable server, the market will ultimately understand: true mainstreaming is not about the 30-second Super Bowl ad, but about receiving reliable responses with every click.
What do you think about these 'mainstreaming' moves by cryptocurrency tycoons? Are they a necessary choice for wealth accumulation or a prelude to a new round of bubbles? Feel free to share your views in the comments!
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