In late 2019, the Trump administration approved a bill that would authorize the United States Department of Defence (USDOD) to sell about 200 million IPv4 addresses. This department plans to sell many address blocks in the next decade. What effect would this sale have on the IP market down the road?
Could Small Organizations Obtain Some Of These Addresses?
Large and medium blocks of new IP addresses are going to be traded, and because there is a deadline for the USDOD, they will focus on potential buyers. Big companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are hoping to increase their stock of IPv4 addresses, which would turn them into purchasers.
The largest companies always look to purchase more IPv4 addresses. As IPv4 addresses face exhaustion, and we slowly move to IPv6, entities are keenly interested in collecting as many of these addresses as they can. Meanwhile, with the released addresses being kept in big bulks, there is not much chance for IPv4 brokers and smaller purchasers to get their deserved share. So, experts think that a situation will arise where some big corporations acquire all the addresses.
Will More Addresses Result In Lower Rates?
New releases of IPv4 addresses will come into the market, so organizations are expecting to find lower prices. However, in the event only some major companies acquire IPv4 addresses, there might just be considerable changes in the price.
Because of IPv4 address depletion, the rates have been increasing for some time now. The average rate was about $6 in 2015, and the cost for one IPv4 address hit $17 in 2018, so it is expected to grow twofold. The bill could cause positive changes, plus lower IPv4 rates, but if the addresses are to be shared among just some corporations, this would not even happen.
The Chance Of Internet Protocol Address Misuse
Several addresses are associated with malicious activities such as hacking, spamming and more. While corporations make blacklists to control the misuse, the more addresses that come into the web, the trickier it will get.
Big corporations/potential purchasers could help to solve this problem. Any IP address possessor can misuse the usage rights they have, but controlling the abuse turns trickier due to the increase of fresh addresses. However, in the event only big and popular companies get the addresses, the possibility of the misuse could be more easily monitored.
New IPv4 address release might just disrupt the market, but it holds negative and positive possible outcomes. The new IP addresses delay the migration to IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) and give companies further time to be ready. Yet less expensive and more accessible choices might result in more likelihood of address misuse. If big companies acquire almost every address block, there might not be considerable changes in the IPv4 market.