Digital El Dorado: How the Tiny Island of Anguilla Hit the 1 Million .ai Domain Jackpot

According to ICANN, in the mid-1990s the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers designated .ai as the country-code top-level domain for Anguilla, a British Caribbean territory, and the asset has since risen to prominence amid the global AI boom. In 2023, Anguilla earned approximately $32 million from domain sales—roughly 22% of the government’s total annual revenue—with registrations around 354,000.

By 2 January 2026, the total number of registered .ai domains had exceeded one million, and the retention is strong, with a 90% renewal rate indicating most registrants keep their domains when they expire. The .ai suffix commands a premium, with typical annual maintenance for a .ai domain at about $70, compared with around $10 for a standard .com domain. The secondary market is active, with You[.]ai selling for $700,000 in September 2025 and a bundle of 31 expired .ai domains realising $1.2 million. This combination of high demand and robust renewal supports Anguilla’s growing digital asset revenue in the AI era.