The Industrial Bank of Korea is working with local domain name registrar, Internet Plaza City, to offer mortgages secured against internet domain names. Yoo Wan-sang, president of Internet Plaza City, told the Korea Herald that the deal is the first time internet domains are being appraised for monetary value and is an expression of our faith in the commercial viability of e-commerce.
Internet Plaza City is setting up a panel of assessors who will value domain names. The Bank said it will offer loans up to 30% of the value of the panel’s assessment, to an upper limit of 30m won ($26,000). Only .com domains will be considered initially, but .net and .co.kr domains will also be considered next year.
