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The 7 Best Domain Registrars You can Pay with Bitcoin Privately

Ease your security/privacy concerns when purchasing a domain name...

—also check-out my amazing resource for paying hosting with bitcoin.


Are you looking for domain registrars that will accept bitcoin as payment?

Need to find a way to buy a domain anonymously?

Then you should check out my list of the Top domain registrars that accept bitcoin on the web.

Bitcoin represents an important step forward beyond paper currencies.

Like cash, this new kind of money offer higher degrees of anonymity: You don’t have to divulge any personal information to use them.

People are now reluctant to expose their data to third parties because they’ve seen firsthand how corporations and governments mismanage personal information.

Think about that for a second.

It’s scary. Because there’s always a risk that all your personal data will be made public…

Hacks on personal and financial data are on the rise.

They’re certainly not dying down. If an entire nation can be hacked, what makes you so sure that yours’ are safe?

… whenever you pay with PayPal or a Credit Card, you’re essentially giving the card company, banks and the merchant every detail about you and all your private preferences.

To date, there are billions that have been affected from data breaches. Billions of personal information that’s now freely available to anyone on the internet.

This breakdown in internet data security is a nightmare.

It’s sowing seeds of paranoia everywhere.

These security systems are so weak because they’re highly centralized.

A centralized system requires one person to shoulder all of the risk.

It creates a highly attractive bounty for hackers. All they have to do is focus their attack on a single point. And the big reward justifies the risk of hacking.

Attaching more checkpoints to security systems that are already centralized is a fruitless circle game which accomplishes nothing.

In 2006, the US Department of Veterans Affairs suffered one of the first major breaches in history. The personal data of more than 26 million veterans and military personnel were compromised.

Back then it was dreadful. Authorities vowed to do whatever it takes to stop it.

And here we are, 13 years later, a country’s data can be hacked.

Large swathes of data have been compromised years on end.

As more people can grasp by now, security is not a magic wand for corporations or governments touting their power and authority.

Security requires people to act.

A decentralized system like Bitcoin divides risk among individuals who are also participants in the security of the network.

There isn’t a single point that can decide the fate of an entire Bitcoin network.

In other words, you are responsible for the security of your own data or money.

So rather than continue down the broken path of the blame game, why not learn how to secure your own money and data by using a payment network that’s highly decentralized and peer-to-peer like cold, hard cash?

In this blog post, I will cover:

  • Why Should You Pay in Bitcoin?
  • 7 of my hand-picked domain registrars which accept bitcoin
  • Simple walk-through Guides for paying in bitcoin
  • How to Transfer a Domain Name @ Zero Downtime
  • How to Choose the Best Domain Registrar.

Why you should learn how to pay with bitcoin — and why so few people are good at it

When we ask customers why they aren’t buying stuff with bitcoin, they often say that they’re confused. They don’t understand why. And customers can’t use something they can’t understand.

So, with the privacy of billions at stake, why are so many people not learning how to use Bitcoin?

Because using Bitcoin is a lot harder than current payment services at the moment. For example, read the following user experience on Reddit:

…after years of observing bitcoin … from a distance. The price had dropped to around $3,000, I figured it was a good time to get some.

So I started researching exchanges …

All of them required me to provide scans of my passport, photos of me holding my passport and/or a piece of paper with the current date. I had to validate my mobile phone, my email and my residential address. I aborted an attempt to use …. after they requested a video of me holding my passport and credit card. For a currency touted for its increased anonymity, I feel awkward at the thought that 6-7 obscure organizations now have a LOT of personal info on me in their databases and it’s not like they have never been hacked before.

Yes indeed! When I first had to get hold of some bitcoin from a centralized exchange, I had to go through various identification procedures known as Know-your-customer (KYC) or Anti-money laundering (AML) laws.

These are laws that are meant to deter the adoption of Bitcoin as a new form of currency for the people.

There has been a very strong campaign to ensure that Bitcoin is only associated with negative things like money laundering, child pornography, terrorism, etc…

This is not a coincidence. Governments are making it difficult for the mass majority of people to learn the benefits of this new technology.

And it’s the default response you get when you introduce any new forms of disruptive technology.

Governments will try to deter the adoption of Bitcoin by adding intense scrutiny at choke hold points (via Bitcoin exchanges which are highly centralized), but don’t think for one second that this can stop it.

Often times when something new is introduced, it tends to be difficult to comprehend and naturally results in offending the entrenched interests.

When automobiles were invented, did you think the whole world raised their hands and thought, “Yay! We don’t need horses anymore.”

No, that’s not what happened. Instead, they said, “Those machines are crazy! These noisy, disgusting machines will probably kill us all.” “Why would anyone want to drive these horrible machines when we have perfectly good horses?”

If you think that is a joke, you should look at the Red Flag Acts passed in the U.K. which required every automobile greater than a certain length to have an operator, engineer and conductor.

They were also required to have a flag person running ahead of the automobile to warn pedestrians because the infernal death machine could kill innocent people on the road.red flag acts

This law, passed in England, slowed down the development of automobiles, almost fatally.

That’s what the majority of people thought when someone comes along and introduces something radically new to the world.

First, there’s always huge resistance.

It’s the same with the airplane, electrification, the internet and Bitcoin.

It is the same story rhyming itself over and over again.

History’s great transitions are seldom spotted as they happen.

But hindsight provides clarity.

When you read it 20 years from now, it will all seem like a smooth transition.

But in the meantime, dramatic changes will neither be welcomed nor advertised by conventional thinkers.

It’s clear that governments are worried that this new kind of money will usurp its role in fiat money creation. But as U.S Congressman Patrick McHenry put it: “The world that Satoshi Nakamoto, author of the Bitcoin whitepaper envisioned, and others are building, is an unstoppable force.

It’s hard to explain clearly to people who do not open their minds. The mind is like a parachute, it only works when it is open.

In fact, it’s hard to find someone who can teach you how to use bitcoin clearly.

The mass media tends to spend more time on trying to sound smart, or depict its flaws as highlights, rather than purely focusing on education.

Because education is boring and brings little commercial value.

People are more likely to associate Bitcoin with a Ponzi scheme as a result…

This is actually a disservice. Bitcoin is life enriching technology , but almost all the information sources we rely on today uses scaremongering tactics and fallacious arguments to get their agenda across.

So if the mass media isn’t helping you to understand what this technological revolution is about, how can you learn?

This library contains some fantastic resources for helping you to understand Bitcoin. It has helped me understand the concept without the fluff. It’s hard to overstate how useful it is.

Now, let’s explore:

The 7 Best Domain Registrars You Can Buy With Bitcoin.

In this table you will find 7 of my top recommendations of domain registrars that accept bitcoin. These companies have been hand-picked based on their price and reliability.

Ideally, you would want to pick a domain registrar that’s separate from your hosting provider. It’s like putting all your eggs in one basket. And when you want to switch domain registrars, it could get tricky!

But, nowadays people tend to go for the complete package that includes the domain name + web hosting in order to take advantage of the free (or almost free) domain name they provide for the 1st year.

This is a highly competitive scene, so whichever one you choose and then regret later on isn’t a big deal because you can always transfer your domain name in under 1 hour* to another one of these companies.

*Recently I transferred a domain name which I have been using for 8 years & 338 days to NameSilo in 37 minutes flat at zero downtime. (Results are not typical and depends on your current domain registrar)

A. Namecheap

Namecheap domain registrar bitcoin top up

I registered my first website with Namecheap about 9 years ago at $10+/year.

Only last year they started to hike the renewal cost to $13+/year which is reasonable considering inflation and all, but during all that time, new leaner domain registrars started to emerge with more competitive prices.

Having said that, I’ve never encountered any problems with them during all that time. They started solely as a domain registrar company but now they’ve expanded into the hosting space. (The ratings you see out there for Namecheap are mainly based on their web hosting experience, you don’t need to read into it)

Today if you register a domain name with Namecheap, you will receive a discount for your first year at $8.88.

Namecheap is one of the Big Registrars out in the market to accept Bitcoin, and has already been doing so since 2013. For that reason alone, I’ll always vouch for them.

You can check out Namecheap’s pricing page here and see for yourself.

 

B. Hostinger

hostinger free domain

Hostinger is a web hosting provider which is also an accredited ICANN domain registrar company. In order for you to take advantage of their free domain for the first year, you will need to subscribe to their premium shared hosting plan for at least 12 months.

However, if you only want to register a domain name with them and pay with bitcoin, simply choose a plan and then deselect the premium shared hosting during checkout.

Read the full Walk-through guide on How to Buy Hosting with BTC (+Get a Free Domain name for your first year).

Paying via bitcoin or any other popular cryptocurrencies like ETH, LTC or DASH poses certain risks like no charge-backs in case you want a refund, or a sudden price change because of the volatility of a certain coin.

When you’re paying in Cryptocurrencies at the moment, you’re not paying the listed price in say BTC or LTC, you’re paying the equivalent dollar of the exchange rate which in my case is 0.0003 for $2.40.

After you click on the checkout button, you will be redirected to their payment page hosted by CoinPayments based in California, where they display their bitcoin address & your payment ID.

Make sure you screenshot this page and don’t close it.

You are given approx. 3 hours to send in your payment and have to depend on them to email you for confirmation.

Remember to include some additional transaction fee for the BTC network so they would prioritize your transaction. During peak periods like in December 2017, its wise to pay for the fastest confirmation, otherwise its fine to just select mid. fees.

You can check out Hostinger right here for yourself.

 

C. Porkbun

Porkbun is new and it’s different.

At the moment, they’re offering the best prices in terms of 1st year and renewal costs.

  • $5.00 first year sale; 1 per customer
  • $8.56 renewals and transfers in

Based in Portland, Oregon, this company is focused on domain registration but also offers shared hosting plans for beginners.

You can top up your credit with bitcoin which you can then use to buy anything from renewing your domain to buying new Top-level domains in bulk. All you have to do is choose the “cryptocurrency” option when you checkout with your shopping cart.

Porkbun is using Coinbase as the processor so it will incur a charge of an additional 5% which is probably the only downside I see from paying them in bitcoin.

            

Check Out Their Cute Oinks!
Check Out Their Cute Oinks!

Each domain your buy on Porkbun comes with FREE:

★ WHOIS Privacy for TLDs only.
★ Site Builder Trial
★ Email Hosting Trial
★ Quick Connect
★ SSL Certificate
★ Email Forwarding
★ URL Forwarding
★ Maximum Awesomeness
★ Powerful Management Console

 

D. HawkHost

HawkHost is a Canadian based web hosting company since 2004 which also allows you to register new domain names and let you pay in bitcoin.

Should you decide to only use their domain registration service, simply review and remove the hosting plan at the checkout by clicking on the ‘X’ button:

Select the Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash option. Confirm and proceed.

You will be brought to an invoice type page which is quite unusual. Click on Pay Now.

Select Bitcoin (BTC) and continue. They use Bitpay which is one of the biggest cryptocurrency payment processors out there, backed by the likes of Virgin Group, Ashton Kutcher, Menlo Seed, and many more prominent angel investors.

You will now see the QR code embedded with the merchant’s bitcoin address. This is where you need to send the bitcoins to. Scan it with your mobile wallet or copy the payment URL.

Go ahead and check out HawkHost here

 

E. HostSailor

HostSailor is a new hosting provider based in Dubai that accepts bitcoin as payment for their services.

On their homepage, go straight to ‘domains‘, search for your unique domain name to check for its availability.

If your domain is available, add to cart and then checkout. Select “Bitcoin & Altcoins” and proceed to tick the Terms of Service. Complete Order.

You will receive an invoice which would also be sent to your email. Click on “Pay Now” to proceed.

If you’re familiar with the Lightning Network (LN), you can send your bitcoins from a LN wallet cheaper, faster and more privately than ever before.

Once you enter your email and click on the pay button, you will now to directed to the address you need to send bitcoins to in order to complete the transaction.

Please do not send funds from an exchange like Coinbase or Binance, only send bitcoins from a wallet that you hold your own private keys.

 

F. NameSilo

namesilo transfer score

NameSilo is the Amazon of domain registrars and prides itself in being the company with the most transfers-in instead of out with over 3 million active domains under management. (Most companies are not comfortable with keeping score of this fact.)

Since 2009, they’re a domain registration-only company that prides itself in offering bulk domain name management for web and blog network owners. Only recently have they started to offer hosting services at $2.39/mo.

In line with this, they have a discount program which offers competitive pricing for active account domains in bulk:

Discount Program (active account domains)
TLD 0+ 100+ 500+ 1,000+ 2,500+ 5,000+
.com $8.89 $8.79 $8.69 $8.59 $8.49 $8.39

But that isn’t the only attractive feature, many web owners use NameSilo for Domain Parking in order to reserve new domain names for future developments. This ensures that their digital plot of land doesn’t invite cyber-squatters.

namesilo transfers gain and loss
Transfers Gained and Loss from other domain registrars
Enter coupon code “coinzodiac” to get $1.00 off your domain purchase.

(Expires: 31 Dec 2020)

Paying in bitcoin for the registrations of your domain names privately on NameSilo is also a piece of cake. 

Account funding: You can also top-up or add funds with bitcoin via the back-end billing manager at zero fees.

How to Transfer a Domain Name with Zero Downtime

transfer domain zero downtime

It’s likely that if you’ve been a web owner as long as I had, you’d shop around and transfer domain names at various registrars over time.

I’m talking about getting the best bang for your buck, each domain name that you own taxes your finances and it all adds up over time especially if you own truck loads of them.

That’s why I feel, it’s best to separate your domain registrar from your web hosting company because you really don’t need to be held hostage in the future.

Why Did I Switch to Namesilo?

The decision to switch to NameSilo was simple:

  • NameSilo lets you transfer .com domains for $8.39 (1st year) and offer free WHOIS privacy for life!

I transferred a domain name from Namecheap which I have been using for 8 years & 338 days to NameSilo in 37 minutes flat with zero downtime to take advantage of the renewal/transfer cost. (Results are not typical and depends on your current domain registrar)

I’m not alone too. Over 650,000+ people have transferred their domains over to NameSilo while only about 70,000+ people transferred away from them. That means they are growing their customer base 10x faster than they are losing it.

To top it off, transfers are free, in the sense that if your domain is going to expire 3 months from now and you decide to transfer it to NameSilo today, you will get 15 months at the cost of the 1 year’s cost.

In the end, your domain would expire in 15 months. You don’t lose that 3 months you had previously and you don’t pay extra for it. You Don’t have to wait to transfer your domain name last minute!

Before you begin, you need to ensure a couple of things to qualify for a domain name transfer:

  1. The domain is more than 60 days old;
  2. The domain was not transferred between registrars within the last 60 days;
  3. The domain is “Unlocked” for transfer (“Registrar Lock” is disabled).
  4. Make sure your WHOIS email address is up to date. (Authorization code will be sent there)
  5. Optional: Disable WHOIS privacy protection.
  6. Go the new domain registrar’s transfer page. Complete your transaction.
  7. Pester your old company to release your domain instead of waiting for the full 5 days.
  8. If they release it, It should be transferred/done within minutes.

How to Pick The Best Bitcoin Domain Registrar?

There are plenty of ICANN accredited domain registrar companies that accept bitcoin as payment nowadays.

Don’t pay too much attention to the ‘perfect’ ratings advertised out there. Just double check the company’s track record and the price they offer.

Consider the trade-offs and understand that the more popular the domain registrar, the steeper the price, but you’ve also got to know what you’re actually buying.

Some have been in the game for far too-long. Others are new and trying to out-compete.

What you should consider nowadays in terms of value for domain name registration is the renewal cost.

Often times, you can get a better price if you choose a domain registrar focused business rather than a web hosting company.

We’ve only just begun…

In the world of Bitcoin, there’s so much more to delve into. That’s why I created The Zodiac Collection, that tells the story of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency revolution from every angle you can dream up.

There’s a lot of exciting stuff to read — I’ve selected a few of the stories, to start with, below.

To read a curated list of the most important crypto news stories each morning, subscribe for FREE. It will be everything you need to know, in your inbox, every day. No brainer 🙂

I certainly don’t want to overload your brain with the library of Bitcoin resources we have here.

Here are some special picks:

Show More

Winson Ng

I Started hearing about bitcoin only in November 2017. As a solo-preneur who has build around the Maverick Philosophy, I found bitcoin to be just the tip of the spear. I watched to see who was getting into it, some of the smartest entrepreneurs who has made their fortunes being the first movers allocated portions of their investment portfolios to Bitcoin. I studied and realized that if it worked, bitcoin was going to be the first global decentralized currency. And that has never existed before. Ever. I was Hooked!
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