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S.ee is now the most expensive domain auctioned by the Estonian Internet Foundation

In 2011, EIF reserved and blocked several .ee domains, including single-character and toponymic domains. The aim of the reserved domains was to give them to institutions with a legitimate interest. Many of the domains found an owner within the 12 years, but domains that were not registered, are now available for everyone worldwide together with single-character .ee domains. With that, EIF serves the goal to be an open and liberal registry. Last week, the s.ee domain was auctioned for a record amount of 41 000 euros.

The proceeds of the domain auctions will be invested in the Estonian Internet - making it more efficient and secure. EIF will be implementing cloud service, in addition develop and promote the DNSSEC and DANE service. Moreover, EIF supports each year several projects that are related to promoting knowledge in the IT field in the society.

According to the CEO of EIF Heiki Sibul, the new auction is an historic milestone for Estonia. “We are truly happy that the .ee top-level domain continues to be popular and wanted. Single-character domains give an exclusive opportunity to obtain an outstanding .ee address. Toponymic domains, on the other hand, are fantastic for local communities and companies. In addition, all the new domain owners are contributing to the Estonian internet.” Sibul adds that single-character domains are valuable for everyone worldwide thanks to the unique combinations with the .ee.

EIF manages the top-level .ee domain and represents the Estonian internet community. Reserved and blocked domains will be auctioned in weekly limited batches with open-bid English auction. The auction is held in the Auction Portal https://auction.internet.ee/ and the list of the domains coming to auction is available here.