Belarus puts up expired domains for charity auctions

According to new rules in Belarus, .by domain names, which registration has expired, are put up for a charity auction. The owner of the domain name gets 30 days to renew the registration. If the owner fails to do so, the domain name is sold via an auction and the money earned is transferred to accounts of Belarusian children’s homes.

So far five charity auctions to sell .BY domain names have been held, with about Br750 million (about $65,000) earned. Hoster.by is the organizer of domain name auctions. The domain name casino.by was sold for over Br250 (about $21,750) million. The purchase is one of the most expensive registrations of a domain name in the .BY zone.

Yesterday, the Belarusian company Onliner, the owner of the same-name Belarusian electronic commerce platform, bought the domain name online.by at a charity auction for Br100 million (about $8,700).

The company has already transferred the money for the domain name. The money has already been transferred to accounts of five children’s homes.