The little Caribbean island that earns millions of euros without producing anything

As a result, according to the BBC, almost every country had an English-based domain name or name in its own language. This included the small Caribbean island of Anguilla, which was named after the domain “.ai”. Without Anguilla's knowledge at the time, this would eventually become its next jackpot.

With continued artificial intelligence boom, more and more companies and individuals are paying Anguillas to register new websites labeled “.ai”, as she owns it.

Like American technology executive Dharmesh Shah, which this year spent 605,000 euros on the “you domain.ai”.

Speaking to the BBC, Shah said he bought the domain because he had <x0 idea of an artificial intelligence product that would allow people to create digital versions of themselves that could perform specific tasks on their behalf”.

According to a website that tracks domain name records, the number of websites “. he has increased more than tenfold in the last five years and has doubled in the last 12 months alone.

The challenge for Anguilla, which has a population of only 16,000, is how to exploit this lucrative opportunity and turn it into a source of long-term and sustainable income.

Tourism in Anguilla

Like other small Caribbean island nations, Anguilla's economy is based on tourism. In recent years it has drawn visitors from the luxury market, mainly from the United States. Last year, the island saw a record number of visitors, with 111,639 people visiting its shores.

However, the island's tourism sector is sensitive to the damage caused by hurricanes every fall. Placed in the northeast arch of the Caribbean island, Anguilla extends directly into the North Atlantic hurricane belt.

As such, increased revenues from the sale of Web site addresses play an important role in diversifying the island's economy and strengthening its stability to economic damage that could cause storms.

This is something the International Monetary Fund noted in a recent report on Anguilla.

In its 2025 project budget, the government of Anguillas says it earned 33.7m euros from the sales of domain names in 2024. This is almost a quarter of its total income last year. According to the IMF, tourism accounts for about 37%.

Anguilla's government expects revenues from the sale of “.ai” to grow further to $132m this year and 138m in 2026. That's because there are now more than 850,000 .ai domains, down from less than 50,000 in 2020.

As British territory abroad, Anguilla is under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, but with a high level of domestic self - rule. The UK has significant impact on the island's defence and security and has offered financial assistance in times of crisis.

After Hurricane Irma caused serious damage in 2017, the United Kingdom granted Anguilla 68m euros over five years to help cover the cost of recovery.

The Role of Digital Identity

To manage increased revenues from domain names, in October 2024, Anguilla signed a five-year agreement with the American Digital Identity Technology Company, which specialises in internet domain names records.

Earlier this year, the Digital Identity announced that it was shifting all domains “.ai” from the Anguilla servers to its global server network. This was done to avoid any interruptions due to future hurricanes or any other danger to the island's infrastructure, such as power cuts.

The exact cost of “addresses. he” has not been made public, but registration prices range from approximately 130 to 170 euros. The renovation tariffs are approximately the same amount every two years.

At the same time, the names of the most popular domain are sold at auction, with some reaching hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars. Their owners must pay the same small rates of renovation as all others.

In all cases, the Anguilla government receives revenues from sales, while the Digital Identity receives a piece that is said to be around 10%.

The most expensive purchase of the domain name .he is” you.ai” of Shah, a self-declared artificial intelligence enthusiast and cofounder of the American software company Hubspot, which owns several other domain names .ai,

In recent weeks, auctions “.ai” have seen substantial sales with six figures. In July, “cloud.ai” was sold for 518000 euros and “law.ai” was sold for 302,000 euros earlier this month. /Periscope/