It’s not that amazing. To be a registrar, you have to pay $10k for the privilege, then pay for multiple audits that you must pass (if you fail them you do not get reimbursed), and then you get to profit like $2 per domain per year, and you have to maintain high availability server farms, pay for the electricity, pay for the sysadmins, pay for the audits every year etc

There’s a reason Google stopped doing it after they got their .google tld

I just want to point out that buying a domain usually means you own it, despite having to pay a hosting fee. But you can take it to other hosters.

I assume you’re asking about niche leasing without ownership?

I haven’t been able to make any money trying to lease cumfartjesusmicrosoft.biz so I’m not sure there’s any market at all.