A Conversation with Aron Meystedt: Owner of the First Registered Domain on the Internet
By Fred Hsu (CEO & Co-Founder, D3)
I’ve known Aron Meystedt for years. He’s the guy who bought Symbolics.com, the first .com ever registered, and treats it like a living museum of internet history. He’s also a straight shooter on valuation, liquidity, and how to professionalize a market that’s stayed “hand-to-hand” for decades. We talked about where domains go next when you give them real rails with DomainFi.
Fred: Aron, first of all, you own the very first .com domain ever registered! That’s an incredible piece of internet history. How did that come about, and what does it mean to you?
Aron: Thanks, Fred. It was a matter of perfect timing. I had always known Symbolics.com was the first registered .com domain. I saw it as a 1 of 1 type of domain name, which we are all always looking for. The day I picked up the phone to call the Symbolics Computer Corporation (who are the real Internet pioneers) was the first day they actually considered selling it. After a brief back and forth, the deal was done.
I still can’t believe it happened, 16 years ago. I’m really proud to be the steward of this piece of Internet history.
We created an Internet history explorer on the site, filled with hidden easter eggs, as a way to honor the legacy of this name. I see it as the ultimate collectible, like the first Model T that rolled off the assembly line, or a rare Honus Wagner baseball card… this is the original digital asset. Again, just very very honored to be the holder of this name.
Fred: Owning the first .com must give you a unique perspective on how the domain market has evolved. Has that shaped how you think about the challenges domain owners still face today?
Aron: Others have been in the space much longer than me. But, yes, I do feel I have a unique perspective on how this market has changed over the years. When I started, pay per click parking was booming. It was the wild west. Buy a name with a little traffic and it instantly was a revenue generating asset. It didn’t last forever, but it was a magical time. My first purchases were all traffic and revenue names because I needed to generate income when I was starting and I couldn’t afford the ‘buy and wait strategy’ back in the early 2000s. Once the parking boom ended, I received some amazing advice from someone in the space, who told me to buy domains that could be brands for ANY type of company. So I started grabbing versatile words, like the ones I own now: March.com, Napkin.com etc. My buy and hold strategy then came into play, as I figured each of these names was like buying stock in the Internet itself. I knew as time passed, owning a top tier domain name would be a great differentiator for companies. But, it’s not an easy game to play. These names are fairly illiquid, if you want top dollar.
Fred: Speaking about liquidity. A lot of people see big headline sales and assume the aftermarket is liquid. What’s the reality?
Aron: Although most big sales are hidden behind NDAs, the velocity of transactions on the high end of the market is quite low. We’ve all tried to come up with ways to solve this issue. I have a small domain investors email list and I asked everyone on the list this question:
"What do you need most in the domain space?" I gave them 4 choices ranging from ‘more sales’ to ‘better parking solutions’ and resoundingly the main need of investors in this space is ‘more sales’.
We all want to find a way to move more inventory, yet still achieve high sales prices.
Fred: Now we’re starting to see Web3 infrastructure pop up. How do you see that changing things?
Aron: If done the way we all are hoping, tokenization has the potential to solve this liquidity problem. While unproven so far (no one has stepped up to create the rails to make this a reality) in theory, Web3 could allow people to participate in the high end of this market, while allowing domain owners to cash out even just a portion of their holdings.
As long as everything is done above board and with protections for buyers and sellers, and as long as nothing changes in the functionality of the domain, yes, this could be huge. I could envision a world where ‘usage’ among a group comes into play. Even a simple leaderboard with each person’s ownership percentage (to gamify the process) along with a link to their own product could be interesting. That’s a simple way to share ownership. I like voting mechanisms provided by Web3 and I like the ability to take ‘shares’ off platform and trade them with others for other crypto assets. Yes, there’s big potential here, if done correctly. I’m curious to see if anyone does this the right way.
Fred: Some people worry Web3 is hype. What’s worth paying attention to?
Aron: Many of those hesitations are valid. We’ve seen rug pulls and shady characters enter the space. Much of that has left a bad impression on all of us. However, as stated above, within the right framework and guidelines (protections for buyer and seller), I could see this being really amazing. The ability to take your tokenized percentage of a domain name and INSTANTLY liquidate it for Bitcoin or other digital assets is really interesting. It all depends on the team and how it’s all structured. It’s ok to be cautious in this space, much of it is unproven, but I think we all agree that the more we can decentralize the better.
Note: I say all of this as a Web3 novice. I love Bitcoin and have been buying and selling it for years.
Fred: What would convince you to tokenize a name you love?
Aron: For me to tokenize one of my own names, I’d need to see a few things. First, I wouldn’t want buyers of my shares to be rug pulled in any way. If there are protections for them, then we’re all happy. I want them to enjoy ownership just as I do, and have no risk of their shares dropping to zero. Second, I want a community element. If I sell 10% of a domain name, that means I still own 90% and I want us to all work together to make our respective shares more valuable. As long as we’re all pulling in the same direction, that’s great. I also don’t want the 10% to be able to do anything that might crash the 90%. That’s a big risk, and it would be amazing if that problem were solved. And third, I don’t want to get in trouble with my registrar or ICANN. There has to be a secure way to roll things back in case anything negative happens, in a way that makes everyone happy. I really would need to see that buyers are protected and I’d need to be sure my remaining shares stay valuable.
Fred: Where do you see smart use cases beyond “sell a slice”?
Aron: This might open up lending against your domain names. If these shares are easily converted to cash or bitcoin, with the downside protections mentioned above, I could see lenders popping up. This would help domain owners receive loans against their shares, just like CEOs get loans against their publicly traded shares.
Fred: How do you see DomainFi fitting into the future you envision?
Aron: It’s clear, after talking with the biggest investors in our space, we all want a higher velocity of sales. And, not just wholesale sales. We still want fair valuations for our assets, but we want to move in and out of these assets with ease. I could see this opening up that world. The big picture is expanding the investor base to the crypto community and beyond. If that takes place, current valuations could explode upward. We are all big believers in the power and value of domain names, and more eyeballs and activity could be good for all of us.
Fred: Last question: as the owner of the very first .com ever registered, what would you tell someone who’s just starting to explore domain investing today?
Aron: The space has changed quite a bit from when I started. Now, you have to be patient and willing to wait. It’s very tough to dream up a new name to register that you can flip. It’s tough to find a niche that hasn’t been thoroughly explored.
I wouldn’t put in any money that you couldn’t afford to just let sit for many years. Just like Symbolics.com, expect to hold something for a long long time (I’m going on 16 years of owning Symbolics.com as an example). Read related article.
Continually search for a small sector of the space where you can grab a foothold that others may have missed. But again, easier said than done.
Most importantly, it’s always who you know and who knows you. Put yourself out there, meet others and deals might flow your way. If people know you, they’ll come to you for advice or deals. Maybe make your own Symbolics.com type of splash to put your name on everyone’s radar?
Fred: Aron, thank you for sharing your story and your perspective.
Aron: Thanks for having me. It needs to be noted that my comments above are my own and offer no endorsement of any particular service or company. Thanks again for letting me speak my opinion on where the domain space is heading.
