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

About Escrow.com

Winner of the 2017 BBB Torch Award for Ethics for Silicon Valley, San Francisco and the Bay Area, Escrow.com is the leading provider of secure online payments and online transaction management for consumers and businesses on the Internet, having safely processed over US$4.5 billion in transactions. Founded by Fidelity in 1999, Escrow.com reduces the risk of fraud by acting as a trusted third party that collects, holds and disburses funds according to buyer and seller instructions.

Escrow.com is a subsidiary of eleven-time Webby Award winning Freelancer.com, the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and jobs posted. Freelancer Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker ASX:FLN.

About IPTrading.com

IPTrading.com is a subsidiary of Nationwide Computer Systems, Inc., a 34 year old Florida corporation with a rich history as a technical consulting and asset brokerage firm. In a new market like the IPv4 transfer market, there are few barriers to entry. IPTrading.com’s long and continuous corporate history differentiates them from their competitors, as does their deep technical knowledge gleaned from decades of daily work creating and maintaining networks.

As a leader in the IPv4 transfer market, IPTrading.com was one of the first registered and authorized brokers in the ARIN, APNIC, RIPE and LACNIC registries. Being active in policy development, they authored the policy in the ARIN region allowing inter-regional transfers, as well as the policy in LACNIC allowing transfers within that region. In 2012, they brokered the world’s first inter-regional transfer. Since then IPTrading.com has brokered over 1000 private IPv4 transfers with organizations in over 75 countries, in transfers sizes from just 256 addresses to transfers of 4 million addresses.

For more information, contact:

Mike Burns President and Broker
Tel +1 855 478 7233 x105
Email mike@iptrading.com
Rabih Masri CEO and Founder
Tel +14088889972
Email rabih.masri@riotclouds.com
Thomas Brenac CEO
Tel +33686263575
Email thomas@brenac.eu