LACNIC Goes Global with First Inter-RIR Transfer

The first-ever IP address transfer from the Latin American region to another continent was completed this morning through an Escrow.com transaction brokered by IPTrading.com and RiotClouds. IP address pricing and transaction volume in Latin America are expected to rise as the last IPv4 block is assigned and the regional market opens up to a high global demand.

SAN FRANCISCO, September 1, 2020

A month after the Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Center Registry (LACNIC) enabled IP address transfers to other regions, the first block has been transferred to Europe as confirmed by the RIPE NCC. The transaction closed on Escrow.com, the leading provider of secure online payments, this morning. IPTrading.com, one of the first brokers registered in LACNIC and a spearhead of the inter-regional transfer policy that passed last year, set up the deal between Brazilian Ava Telecom and BRENAC, an ISP and IP address brokerage based in France.

IPTrading.com had been trying to find a buyer in their Brazilian client’s region for a while, but the demand was low and none of the bids matched the asking price. As soon as LACNIC started supporting inter-regional transfers in the last week of July, they went shopping for buyers in other regions and just a day later, fellow broker Rabih Masri from RiotClouds connected them with BRENAC. The funds were smoothly secured at Escrow.com that same week.

"When it comes to securing a transaction for our client and for ourselves, and especially when it is a first inter-RIR transfer with several parties involved, the choice of using Escrow.com was obvious," said Thomas Brenac, CEO of BRENAC IPv4 brokerage. By verifying all entities and holding the funds in trust until the IP transfer is complete and registered in public WHOIS records, Escrow.com shields buyers, sellers and brokers from counterparty risks.

At the end of 2019, Escrow.com had seen a 530% increase in the gross payment volume of IP address transactions over a two-year period. Transaction volume and average price have always been significantly lower in the LACNIC region, where demand was low partly because the region had not yet reached the final phase of IPv4 exhaustion. However, LACNIC announced the assignment of the last IPv4 block in their reserved pool last week. The exhaustion of the free pool and the entry of inter-regional transfers are expected to shake up the market.

"Inevitably, the prices are going to start to normalize between LACNIC and the rest of the trading market," commented IPTrading.com CEO Mike Burns, "Prices in LACNIC were much lower than in ARIN, RIPE and APNIC. That differential is shrinking very quickly."

Updated: 9th September 2020 to include broker details