IPXO Overview – What to Expect From the World’s First IP Marketplace

IPXO (Internet Protocol Exchange Organization) is an upcoming marketplace for monetizing and leasing IPv4 addresses. A pretty innovative idea that we haven’t really seen anyone else attempt before. In spite of the fact that there has been a shortage of IPv4s for the past decade or so ever since everybody started transitioning to IPv6.

But just because the new protocol is becoming the norm, that doesn’t mean the previous one is no longer in demand. Quite the contrary. IPv4 addresses are still highly sought after, and IPXO aims to bridge the gap between organizations that want to lease them and those looking to monetize their unused addresses.

The project started in 2019 when a team of developers came up with the idea of creating an IP marketplace for companies that want to acquire addresses without necessarily buying them. A single IPv4 address currently costs as much as $25-35, which quickly adds up when you’re buying in bulk. If you’re simply leasing them, however, the prices can be far more reasonable. Let’s see why.

Millions of IPv4 Subnets Available to Lease

IPXO offers users a wide variety of filters and options for finding the exact type of addresses they’re looking for. For instance, you can browse IPs by CIDR (classless inter-domain routing), RIR (regional internet registry), geolocation, price, and more.

In addition to giving users all the tools they need to acquire IPv4 addresses, the platform also acts as an advanced IP management solution. Here, you can find automated tools that can help you locate desired addresses faster and reassign them to a different network if needed.

Also important to note is that IPXO has multiple systems in place to prevent IP address abuse or blacklisting. The two most important ones are the KYC (Know Your Customer) Policy and the Abuse Desk Management Policy. A KYC policy is something you probably came across before, as it is a customer identification process that’s mandatory for banks and financial institutions. Meanwhile, the Abuse Desk Policy is a bit more complex. IPXO released an entire webinar to explain it in-depth, and you can check it out below.

When Leasing More Costs You Less

If you’re primarily interested in bulk leasing, you can get your hands on entire CIDR blocks ranging from /8 to /32. Just as their name indicates, CIDR blocks are blocks of IP addresses that share an initial sequence of bits. These blocks vary in price and popularity, with the most sought-after ones being /19, /22, /23, and /24 blocks. Price-wise, leasing an IPv4 from one of these popular blocks can cost you as little as $0.25 per address, a lot cheaper than straight-up buying it. Another big advantage of leasing is that you can access the addresses immediately, which is often not the case when buying due to the lengthy nature of the transfer process from one owner to the next.

This massive difference between the price of buying and leasing IPv4s is why so many organizations are now increasingly more interested in the latter option. And why IPXO will be such a valuable platform. The downside of leasing is that you can only make use of the addresses for a limited amount of time, generally around 12 months.

On the other hand, this isn’t too dissimilar to subscribing to Netflix or Hulu for one year and then renewing the contract once your subscription expires. Leasing works much the same way. The exception is that you might be able to get a discount from the address holder if you prove to be a valuable customer who buys in large quantities and always sticks to long-term contracts.

Monetize Unused IPv4 Addresses With Ease

You already know that IPXO will have plenty to offer to those looking to lease IPs, especially in bulk, but what about those who want to monetize them? As it happens, the platform is a two-way street that benefits all parties involved. IPv4 address owners can set their own prices and get access to detailed revenue reports and performance breakdowns. Payments will be sent either via PayPal or bank transfer at launch, though more options may be added further down the road.

The abuse monitoring systems mentioned earlier work both ways, so there’s no need to worry that the addresses you’re leasing will end up blacklisted. Furthermore, client data is also entirely secure as IPXO will be fully compliant with GDPR.

Similar to leasing, the process of monetizing IPs will also be automated, at least to a certain extent. The company is working on new features to help with that, such as implementing delegated RPKI and automated geolocation updates, though it’s unclear if these will be available at launch. Another neat feature that’s getting ready to roll out is the ability to set custom payout cycles.

Final Thoughts

All existing and upcoming features aside, the main reason anyone would want to choose IPXO as their go-to place to lease and/or monetize unused IPv4 is that this is one of the only platforms designed specifically for those purposes. Indeed, there aren’t any other notable alternatives at this time, and that’s probably not going to change in the near future.

Building a full-fledged IP marketplace is a complex process with many moving parts that need to fit together just right. But perhaps even more important than the platform itself is going to be the client base. Judging by the research conducted by IPXO and other organizations, the world’s supply of IPv4 addresses available for allocation sits at less than 4% right now while the demand keeps growing year after year.

We’re almost at a point where the only way to acquire IPv4s is to buy or lease them from existing owners, and one of the only places capable of providing such as service will be IPXO. The idea sounds great on paper, and its implementation seems to be very solid as well. Now we just have to wait and see what customers think about it.