- Top Telegram username auctions open with $10,000.
- The domain name NFTs.com sold for $15 million in 2022.
People are rightfully worried about privacy. Data leaks, NSA spying, companies selling your information, the great focus on privacy have become very important for a reason. Of course, this explains Telegram’s popularity, especially among the crypto crowd.
But with several Telegram usernames being auctioned off for millions of dollars, the question is, is this the beginning of a new digital gold rush, like the one we saw for domain names?
CEO of BanklessTimes.comWith its dedication to privacy and security, Telegram’s popularity is well-earned. Keeping this in mind, the market for user names on the messaging app is growing. With some fetching millions of dollars, we might just be at the brink of a new digital gold rush.
The team at BanklessTimes.com took a look at the data, and we compared and contrasted the current auctions for the most popular domain names, and the most popular Telegram usernames.
A New Digital Gold Rush?
In November of 2022, the Telegram user name “@news” was sold for 994,000 Toncoin, equivalent to $2,200,000. Far from an isolated incident, many of the top sales for Telegram usernames fetched prices upwards of one million dollars. And even looking at any current Telegram username auction, those at the top rarely sell for less than $10,000.
An interesting parallel can be made with domain names.
In the past, domain names have sold for millions of dollars. As an example, Voice.com was sold for $30 million back in 2019. In 2015, 360.com had a price of $17 million, while the most recent is the NFTs.com domain, which sold for $15 million in 2022.
Domain Names and the Potential of Telegram Username Auctions
Let’s look at our list of the most lucrative domain names and Telegram usernames at the time of writing. Note that these examples have been current at the time of writing, gathered from Fragment.com and Flippa.com.
| Telegram Username | Minimum Bid (Toncoin converted to USD) | Domain Names | Minimum Bid(USD) |
| @uzbekistan uzbekistan.t.me | 10,500~ $24,885 | vvgud.com | $100,000,000 |
| @mazda mazda.t.me | 6,608~ $15,661 | bioget.com | $42,000,000 |
| @anta anta.t.me | 5,303~ $12,568 | fashionfrix.com | $10,680,000 |
| @evil evil.t.me | 5,303~ $12,568 | orderpizza.at | $2,500,000 |
| @hy88 hy88.t.me | 5,303~ $12,568 | lowermybudget.com | $2,500,000 |
| @k888 k888.t.me | 5,303~ $12,568 | CycloneOfSavings.com | $1,500,000 |
| @onyx onyx.t.me | 5,303~ $12,568 | BucketOfSavings.com | $1,500,000 |
| @s888 s888.t.me | 5,303~ $12,568 | swap.info | $1,500,000 |
| @talk talk.t.me | 5,303~ $12,568 | webhooks.com | $1,500,000 |
| @sauron sauron.t.me | 5,250~ $12,443 | CycloneOfCash.com | $1,500,000 |
| @nicegramResale nicegram.t.me | 2,309~ $5,472 | BucketOfCash.com | $1,500,000 |
| @ecommerceResale ecommerce.t.me | 1,785~ $4,230 | TornadoOfCash.com | $1,500,000 |
| @hookah hookah.t.me | 1,050~ $2,489 | WhirlwindOfSavings.com | $1,500,000 |
| @vanya vanya.t.me | 1,050~ $2,489 | 0-360.com | $1,500,000 |
| @konkor konkor.t.me | 935~ $2,216 | TornadoOfSavings.com | $1,500,000 |
On one hand, the current prices of the most valuable telegram names on auction do not sell as high as the currently auctioned domain names.
On the other hand, let’s take a historical look at past sales. For example, the all-time highest price for Telegram usernames was achieved by @news, which sold on the 18th of November, 2022. It had a price of 994,000 Toncoin, which amounts to around $2,286,200. Similarly, @auto got sold for 900,000 Toncoin, around $2,070,000, and @bank got sold for 850,000, or $1955,000. All of these had a starting sale rarely lower than $20,000.
If we compare the all-time best-selling Telegram username @news’s $2.2 million sale with the $30 million sale of the domain name Voice.com, there is an obvious difference. The same goes if we look at the current highest auction prices. However, the intense potential is there.
All of the large username sales occurred in Q4 of 2022, while Voice.com was sold more than half a decade ago. This might just be the beginning of a profitable market segment, and a new digital gold rush.
