- Arsyan Ismail sold AI.com domain for $70 million, bought initially for $100 in 1993
- The domain was sold to Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, transaction done in cryptocurrency
- AI.com was relaunched at Super Bowl LX for a new agentic AI platform by Crypto.com
In April 2025, Malaysian entrepreneur Arysan Ismail sold the domain AI.com to Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek for $70 million (approximately Rs 634 crore). The deal came to light a few days ago when the domain was relaunched during Super Bowl LX, with Crypto.com using it for a new platform focused on "agentic AI". While the scale of the deal was massive, several social media posts claimed that Ismail bought the domain for only Rs 300 ($100) in 1993 when he was 10 years old, using his mother's credit card. The actual history behind the acquisition, however, tells a different story.
The domain was registered on May 4, 1993, a mere five days after the World Wide Web became the official public domain. Online credit card transactions gained approval in 1996. Meanwhile, interent was even more backwards in Malaysia, where Ismail may have operated, making the claims about buying the domain dubious.
As it turns out, the domain was purchased by Arsyan in 2021 on the domain brokerage site SAW.com for an undisclosed amount. The previous owner of the domain was Future Media Architects, Inc, a holding company for domain names owned by Kuwaiti Thunayan Khalid Al-Ghanim.
Though flipping the domain for $70 million is still an impressive business deal, Arysan did not buy it as a child prodigy who visualised how big AI could be in the future.
As per Marszalek, acquiring a premium name like AI.com was essential to prevent his company from being "commoditised" as competition in the artificial intelligence space heats up.
Though he has largely kept a low profile, Ismail has been deeply involved in Malaysia's tech ecosystem for years. His journey spans early social networking ventures, positions at Nuffnang and Friendster, and eventually founding 1337 Tech. He was also an early adopter of Bitcoin and other digital assets.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Ismail began his career as a Senior Programmer at Nuffnang (2005 -2006), followed by a stint as a Software Engineer at Packet One Networks (2006 -2008). He later worked as a Senior Web Developer at Friendster (2008 - 2010) before joining YTL Communications as an Application Developer from 2010 to 2012. His profile also notes that he has been working independently with OpenAI since January 2025.
