Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – A Malaysian technology entrepreneur has become the center of international attention after selling the domain name “ai.com” for $70 million, approximately 1.1 trillion Indonesian Rupiah. The buyer is Kris Marszalek, CEO of the prominent cryptocurrency marketplace, Crypto.com.
The sale, confirmed by multiple sources, breaks the record for one of the most expensive domain name transactions ever publicly disclosed, surpassing the $49.7 million paid for CarInsurance.com in 2010. Arsyan Ismail, the seller, originally purchased the domain on May 4, 1993, at the age of 10, for a mere $100, using his mother’s credit card without her knowledge.
“I used my mother’s credit card at the time,” Ismail recounted to local media, as reported by Kompas.com. “She was very angry that I charged her card with the domain purchase. She said, ‘What is this? What are you doing on the internet?’” Ismail explained that he acquired the domain simply because its initials matched his own – “A.I.” (Arsyan Ismail) – at a time when the significance of Artificial Intelligence was not yet widely recognized.
Prior to the permanent sale to Marszalek, the ai.com domain experienced a period of fluctuating redirection. In early 2023, visitors to ai.com were directed to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Subsequently, the domain redirected to x.ai, the AI company founded by Elon Musk. These changes reportedly stemmed from lease arrangements and negotiations preceding Ismail’s final decision to sell the domain outright in 2026.
Crypto.com officially unveiled the new direction of ai.com during a commercial advertisement broadcast during Super Bowl L, on February 8, 2026. Marszalek revealed via a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the acquisition occurred in April of the previous year, but was kept confidential while a team was assembled. “We’ve been building steadily since the purchase,” Marszalek stated.
According to Marszalek, ai.com will serve as the platform for a new service offering “AI Agent” technology. This service aims to provide users with autonomous assistance in completing complex tasks, including message sending, application management, and automated stock trading.