NamesCon Global brought domain investors, brokers and internet infrastructure companies together in Miami Nov. 11-12, pairing discussions about artificial intelligence and digital identity with marketplace announcements, industry awards and a competition focused on turning domain names into businesses.
Held at Ice Palace Studios alongside CloudFest Americas, the conference connected the business of buying and selling internet addresses with the hosting, software and cloud services used to develop them. Online discovery, digital ownership and entrepreneurship in the AI era were among the event’s stated themes. NamesCon
One concrete announcement came from GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani, who introduced a year-end incentive for sellers using the company’s Afternic domain marketplace.
Under the promotion, eligible Buy It Now sales completed from Nov. 11 through Dec. 31 qualify for a credit equal to 5% of the sale price, capped at $5,000 per transaction. Sellers must link their Afternic and GoDaddy accounts and use Afternic nameservers at the time of sale.
The incentive comes with limits: GoDaddy Cash is account credit rather than a withdrawable cash payment. Credits are scheduled for January 2027, and lease-to-own and Make Offer transactions do not qualify. The announcement gave sellers a specific business decision to weigh alongside the conference’s broader discussions about AI and the future of online commerce. Afternic
Wednesday’s presentations also examined how domain investors should respond to changing buyer demand. Atom.com founder and CEO Darpan Munjal addressed naming trends and the influence of AI-native businesses in a session about buying domains for future demand. A separate GoDaddy presentation covered Afternic listing and pricing strategies, along with outbound marketing for premium domain names, according to John Colascione’s on-site reporting for Strategic Revenue. Strategic Revenue’s day-one report
The domain aftermarket remained central to the program. RightOfTheDot’s auction was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, with participation available in person and online. Ahead of the event, the company announced a proprietary bidding platform and a catalog of more than 300 domains, including Borrow.com, Fare.com, HomeService.com and CapeTown.com. Its announcement also outlined a subsequent timed online auction for additional inventory. RightOfTheDot announcement
Thursday’s program included the Escrow.com Master of Domains awards ceremony. Andrew Miller, founder and president of ATM Holdings, led the 2026 rankings, followed by Keith Richter of Lumis Group and Rob Schutz of Snagged.
The rankings, announced earlier this year, measure the value of domain transactions handled through Escrow.com during 2025. They do not represent a comprehensive ranking of every broker’s sales across all transaction providers. Escrow.com
Business development received another showcase in Rick Schwartz’s Beanstalk Challenge, which encouraged participants to develop ventures around premium domain names. KPV.com won the overall competition, according to reports from TLD Investors and Strategic Revenue. Property.com placed first in the separate public-voting competition, Strategic Revenue reported. TLD Investors; Strategic Revenue’s day-two report
A Thursday panel featuring representatives from GetYourDomain.com, WebPros, ATM Holdings and Hosted AI examined how AI tools are changing the process of launching and growing internet businesses. The discussion added an operating-business perspective to a conference whose participants also trade in the underlying digital assets. Strategic Revenue’s day-two report
Organizers have announced that NamesCon Global will return Oct. 5-6, 2027, at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. NamesCon
File image: Marc Averette / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · Display may be cropped.
