This small Caribbean island earned $39M from .ai domain sales in 2024 boom

Anguilla’s .ai domain extension has become a financial windfall for the small Caribbean island, generating $39 million in 2024—nearly a quarter of the territory’s total government revenue. The unexpected boom, driven by surging demand for AI-related websites, is helping the 16,000-person British Overseas Territory diversify its tourism-dependent economy and build resilience against hurricane damage.

The big picture: What started as a routine internet address assignment in the 1980s has transformed into Anguilla’s second-largest revenue source, with .ai domain registrations growing more than 10-fold in five years.

• The government earned 105.5 million East Caribbean dollars ($39 million) from domain sales in 2024, compared to tourism’s 37% share of total revenues.
• More than 850,000 .ai domains now exist, up from fewer than 50,000 in 2020, with registrations doubling in the past 12 months alone.

Key details: Premium domain sales are driving significant individual transactions, with tech entrepreneur Dharmesh Shah’s $700,000 purchase of you.ai setting the current record.

• Basic .ai domain registration starts at $150-200, with similar renewal fees every two years.
• Recent high-value auctions include cloud.ai for $600,000 and law.ai for $350,000.
• Shah, co-founder of HubSpot, a software company, bought you.ai for “an AI product that would allow people to create digital versions of themselves that could do specific tasks on their behalf.”

Strategic partnerships: Anguilla signed a five-year management deal with US firm Identity Digital in October 2024 to handle the growing domain business.

• Identity Digital moved all .ai domain hosting from Anguilla’s servers to its global network to prevent hurricane-related disruptions.
• The revenue-sharing arrangement gives Identity Digital roughly 10% of sales, with Anguilla retaining the majority.

Why this matters: The domain windfall provides crucial economic diversification for a territory vulnerable to climate disasters and tourism fluctuations.

• Hurricane Irma caused severe damage in 2017, requiring £60 million in UK assistance over five years.
• The International Monetary Fund highlighted .ai revenues as important for making Anguilla’s economy more resilient to storm damage.

Future projections: Anguillian officials expect domain revenues to continue growing, with projections of 132 million East Caribbean dollars this year and 138 million in 2026.

• Planned investments include a new airport to boost tourism and improvements to public infrastructure and healthcare.
• The territory is following a revenue-sharing model rather than the fixed-payment approach used by Pacific island nation Tuvalu with its .tv domain.

What they’re saying: Shah predicts even higher-priced .ai domain sales ahead, though he maintains long-term confidence in traditional web addresses.

• “I still think over the long-term, .com domains will maintain their value better and for longer,” Shah said.
• The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office welcomed Anguilla’s efforts “to find innovative ways to deliver economic growth” that contribute to “financial self-sufficiency.”