[address-policy-wg] do IP addresses have a financial value?

[Jim Reid jim@localhost]

On 9 Oct 2008, at 08:28, Andy Davidson wrote:

> Addressing doesn't have latent worth right now because as an LIR  
> with a justifiable need, I can beg resources from a hostmaster, at  
> no (or a small marginal - if billing score is implicated) direct cost.
I'm not convinced by that argument Andy and IMO it's unlikely to stand  
up to scrutiny by an auditor or the tax authorities. The two of us  
could agree to trade some commodity and claim that what was traded had  
no value. That doesn't make it so in the eyes of the taxman or our  
company auditors.
In some respects IPv4 space today has parallels with .com stock  
options. [Remember them?] At the point of acquisition they had a  
marginal value -- "fair" market price -- that was close to zero. Most  
stayed there or depreciated. :-( But when the circumstances were  
right, the options became very valuable and those holding them got rich.
> I therefore can't trade any of these address resources because  
> others can do the same.  This means that today the addresses have no  
> value.
Just because someone can't or doesn't want to trade something doesn't  
mean it has no value. We know that there have been examples where  
companies have merged or been acquired for the address space they held  
and that space determined the price of the transaction. And there is a  
grey market in address space outside the RIR system. Which implies  
that addresses do have a value.