Tonga’s $100 Domain Gold Rush: How a Tiny Pacific Island Became an Unlikely Tech Empire in the 1990s

In the frenzied digital landscape of the late 1990s, while tech giants were paying millions for premium web addresses, a tiny Pacific island kingdom was quietly revolutionizing the domain name market with a brilliantly simple idea that would make it an unlikely player in the internet gold rush.

The Kingdom of Tonga, a picturesque archipelago of 170 islands scattered across the South Pacific, found itself at the center of a digital revolution thanks to two enterprising entrepreneurs and a clever exploitation of internet infrastructure that would transform the country’s economic landscape forever.

Eric Gullichsen and Eric Lyons, two tech-savvy businessmen with a keen eye for opportunity, recognized a fundamental problem plaguing the early internet: the scarcity and skyrocketing costs of desirable domain names. As the World Wide Web exploded in popularity during the mid-1990s, companies and individuals were scrambling to secure their digital real estate, often paying astronomical sums for seemingly simple web addresses.

The .com domain space had become a battleground, with speculators hoarding valuable names and reselling them at premium prices. In December 1999, the domain business.com shattered records by selling for an eye-watering $7.5 million, setting a precedent that made domain acquisition increasingly prohibitive for average users and smaller businesses.

Enter Tonga’s .to domain, the country’s official internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD). While most people associated .to with the Polynesian kingdom, Gullichsen and Lyons saw something entirely different: an opportunity to democratize domain ownership and create a new revenue stream for both themselves and the Tongan government.

Their inspiration came from a fortuitous series of events. After successfully selling two startup ventures, Gullichsen spent time in Tonga, where he eventually met with the Crown Prince of the island nation. Recognizing the potential of their .to domain in the context of the exploding internet economy, the entrepreneurs proposed a partnership that would prove revolutionary.

The scheme was elegantly simple yet brilliantly executed. For just $100 and a valid credit card, anyone could register a domain under Tonga’s .to extension. This pricing strategy was deliberately positioned to undercut the increasingly expensive .com alternatives while still generating substantial revenue for both the entrepreneurs and the Tongan government.

The business model was essentially a bootstrap operation. The infrastructure costs were minimal – primarily server maintenance and domain registration processing – while the revenue potential was enormous. Within two years of launching their venture, over 17,000 domains had been registered under the .to extension, representing a significant income stream for a country with a population of just over 100,000 people.

Lyons, reflecting on their success in a 1999 interview, captured the laid-back yet profitable nature of their operation: “I collect the names and make sure the servers are running, and spend the rest of the time fixing my boat.” This casual attitude belied the sophisticated business acumen that had identified and capitalized on a gap in the market.

The .to domain found particular popularity among tech-savvy users and companies looking for creative web addresses. The domain’s inherent meaning in English – “to” as a preposition – made it attractive for various applications. Companies could create memorable URLs like “go.to,” “join.to,” or “learn.to,” leveraging the domain’s linguistic properties for branding purposes.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this story is that the original Tonic.to website, the platform through which Gullichsen and Lyons conducted their business, remains operational today. Visiting the site is like stepping into a digital time capsule, offering a glimpse of early 1990s web design with its basic layout, chunky text, and slightly fuzzy icons. It stands as a testament to the enduring nature of their innovation and the simplicity of their approach.

The impact on Tonga was transformative. The revenue generated from domain registrations provided a significant boost to the country’s economy, demonstrating how even the smallest nations could leverage internet infrastructure to create substantial economic opportunities. The Crown Prince’s willingness to partner with foreign entrepreneurs showcased a forward-thinking approach to economic development that was ahead of its time.

However, the story of Tonga’s domain success also highlights the dramatic evolution of the internet landscape over the past three decades. In the late 1990s, there were barely one million websites globally. Today, estimates suggest there are approximately 1.2 billion websites, with roughly 175 new sites created every minute.

The domain market itself has undergone a complete transformation. Where once .com, .net, and .org dominated, the internet now supports hundreds of top-level domains, from .tech and .store to .blog and .app. The barriers to entry for website creation have plummeted, with user-friendly platforms and tools making it possible for anyone to establish an online presence within minutes.

Modern domain registration is also significantly more affordable and accessible. While Gullichsen and Lyons charged $100 per domain, today’s users can often register domains for less than $10 annually, with numerous registrars competing for business. The wild west atmosphere of the 1990s domain gold rush has given way to a more regulated and standardized system, though premium domains still command high prices.

The legacy of Tonga’s .to domain experiment extends beyond its immediate financial success. It demonstrated the potential for creative thinking in the digital space, showed how smaller nations could participate meaningfully in the global internet economy, and provided a model for leveraging national resources in innovative ways.

As we reflect on this story from our current vantage point in 2025, several lessons emerge. First, the importance of recognizing opportunities in emerging technologies before they become mainstream. Second, the value of simple, elegant solutions to complex problems. And third, the potential for even the smallest players to make significant impacts in the digital economy when they approach challenges with creativity and vision.

The .to domain story remains a fascinating chapter in internet history, a reminder of a time when the digital frontier was still being mapped and innovative thinkers could carve out entire business empires with nothing more than a good idea and the courage to pursue it. For Tonga, it was a windfall that helped modernize the nation’s economy. For Gullichsen and Lyons, it was the ultimate validation of their entrepreneurial instincts. And for the broader tech community, it served as an early example of how the internet’s decentralized nature could create opportunities for unexpected players to thrive.

In an era where tech monopolies and corporate giants often dominate headlines, the story of Tonga’s $100 domain revolution serves as a refreshing reminder that innovation can come from anywhere – even a tiny island nation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

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