Crypto Researcher Adam Cochran: Renaming AI to SI Could Create Speculative Market for Slovenia's .si Domain

Crypto researcher Adam Cochran stated that the Trump administration's push to rename artificial intelligence to "SI" (Super Intelligence) could create a speculative market for Slovenia's country code top-level domain .si. He pointed out that some individuals registered or transferred relevant domain names before the policy signals were clear, profiting from subsequent brand demand. There is currently no independent confirmation of direct connections between domain holders and the Trump family, government officials, or their associates.

On September 19, Trump tested the replacement of the term "AI" on Truth Social, began using "SI (Super Intelligence)" around the 21st, announced at the UN General Assembly that U.S. government documents would adopt this terminology on the 22nd, and signed an executive order after meeting with AI executives at the White House on the 29th, requiring federal departments to use "Super Intelligence / SI" instead of "AI." The .si domain is also Slovenia's ccTLD, which is the birthplace of First Lady Melania Trump.

Domain monitoring shows that from August 8 to 18, there were approximately 67.5 new registrations per day for .si; 74 on the 19th, 478 on the 20th, and 636 on the day of the speech on the 22nd, totaling about 1,530 from the 20th to the 23rd. Register.si reported that after the speech, there were about 3,700 new applications per day, compared to about 3,500 for the entire month of August, bringing the total to over 220,000. ARNES data indicated over 2,000 on the day of the speech and over 4,000 the next day, totaling over 6,000 in two days. Netcraft noted that within 25 hours after the speech, new registrations for .si briefly exceeded those for .ai.

Cochran stated that from 2023 to 2025, there would be an average of about 55 new .si registrations per day, with a single day exceeding 400 in late June this year, over 7,000 in July, and the first round of secondary market volume for .si emerging, with AI-related names listed in the tens of thousands of dollars range. He found about 12,000 .si domain names related to artificial intelligence, MAGA, or U.S. politics that were registered or transferred before the policy signals were clear, some of which were later listed for millions of dollars, including build.si listed at $14 million. Most Whois records for bulk registrations by Dynadot are privacy-protected; among the new .si registrations on that platform from the 19th to the 22nd, about 52% were quickly put on the secondary market, including donaldjtrump.si, superintell.si, boeing.si, etc.

The Slovenian registry advised trademark and company name holders to register .si as soon as possible, while denying media claims of "million-dollar profits" being substantiated. Hosting provider Hostinger subsequently promoted .si with the slogan "Artificial Intelligence Now Called Super Intelligence," with a first-year price of about $11.99. Public information still cannot confirm the actual beneficiaries, and high listing prices do not equate to completed transactions.

From a market mechanism perspective, this is a case of speculative registration driven by policy naming: buyers are domain speculators and corporate legal teams betting that federal documents, contractors, and tech brands will be forced to align with the "SI" narrative, while sellers are early bulk registrants and secondary market market makers. Funds flow from retail registration fees to listing premiums, with beneficiaries being those who secured the root word before the Truth Social vote and UN speech, as well as Register.si, which saw a surge in registrations; the pressured parties are trademark holders who are late to the game and brands that must buy the suffix to comply with the narrative. The event-driven nature is clear, but the chain of benefit transfer has not yet closed.

Source: Public Information