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

On Oct 8, 2008, at 8:05 AM, Jeffrey A. Williams wrote:

> Jim and all,
>
> I must agree with Jim here.  I can say that our IPv8 addresses
> have for whatever reason become extremely valuable, as discrete
> offers for IPv8 address space I am getting has in two months,
> jumped by 3x.  Of course we never sell IPv8 address space,
> as our policies only allocate based on demonstrated need
> and time to full usage.
>

Indeed. Jim Fleming must be proud.

Regards
Marshall



> Jim Reid wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
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>
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