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Editor's Note: New information and reports have surfaced casting doubt on Arsyan's claim that he bought the domain in 1993. Efforts to reach him for clarification were unsuccessful. Recognising that the piece may contain inaccuracies, we spoke to experts about the plausibility of the claim, which can be read here.
Malaysian tech entrepreneur Arsyan Ismail has captured global attention after the world learned of the USD70 million (RM275 million) sale of the AI.com domain
Arsyan sold the domain to Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek in April 2025.
The deal remained discreet as Marszalek and his team spent the following months building a cutting-edge platform for the domain, reportedly the world's largest publicly disclosed domain name transaction to date.
Today, the domain links to a personal AI agent website, which made a high-profile debut during Super Bowl LX on 8 February.
https://t.co/ac2AqjBNxj launching during Super Bowl this Sunday. The countdown begins.. https://t.co/VWX0e63xG9
— Kris | ai.com (@kris) February 7, 2026
But who is Arsyan, the previous owner of the domain, who made a 700,000-fold return from its sale?
We spoke to him to find out.
Arsyan has been a technopreneur from a young age.
At 10 years old in 1993, he bought the domain for USD100 (about RM256 at the time).
"I used my mum's credit card at the time," he recalled. "She was angry that I charged her card with a domain purchase. She was like, 'What the hell is this? What were you doing on the Internet?'"
When asked why he bought the domain, he aptly replied that it was because 'AI' are the initials of his name: Arsyan Ismail.
He even presented evidence that AI.com was purchased on 4 May 1993, with the registrant listed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
While the USD70 million sale of AI.com is impressive, it's far from Arsyan's only achievement
According to his website, his first Internet-based project started as early as 1998, when he was just 15 years old.
In 2003, he worked on building Malaysia's first social networking site, Kawanster, an equivalent of the then-popular Friendster.
By 2005, he was a senior programmer at Nuffnang, Malaysia's pioneering blog advertising platform.
Three years later, his experience building Kawanster earned him a role at Friendster as a senior web developer.
Arsyan's journey resembles the humble beginnings of many tech billionaires — daring to pursue a simple idea, gaining experience at pioneering companies, and eventually creating success for himself.
In 2013, he founded 1337 Tech, a startup developing apps for businesses.
He was also an early believer in Bitcoin, working on projects related to the cryptocurrency as early as 2014, six years after its launch.
Today, Arsyan continues to focus on blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, consulting and developing Blockchain, Bitcoin, and Ethereum applications for other companies.
He is frequently featured in the news, including outlets such as Berita Harian, The Edge, The Star, Astro Awani, and more.
Beyond his tech ventures, Arsyan is a collector of rare digital assets
"I own the shortest email in the world, [email protected].
"I also own g.gg, the shortest URL in the world," he said.
Arsyan is also the owner of the shortest Ethereum Name Service (ENS), a readable nickname for an Ethereum wallet address, aaa.eth.
"I own the most vanity Maxis number in Malaysia: +6012-222-2222; and the most vanity number in New York, USA: +1-212-222-2222," he added.
Reflecting on the sale of AI.com, Arsyan shared one key piece of advice: never over-negotiate with a billionaire.
"Never overnegotiate and or play fishing with them, you might end up blowing the deal. That's my only advice when you are making a deal at this level," he said, declining to share further details due to an NDA.
