[arin-ppml] Policy Proposal: IPv4 Recovery Fund

[Matthew Kaufman]

Leo Bicknell wrote:
>
> And I repeat, as above, if we have 40 people in line and one to give
> out, none of these transfer proposals keep the IPv4 Internet going.
>
>   
If, under this proposal, there are 40 in line willing to pay at least 
the price that ARIN pays for the space and one to give out then clearly 
ARIN isn't offering a high enough price to folks who might be willing to 
return blocks. (And if there are 40 people in line, but they're *not* 
willing to pay at least that price, then IPv4 addresses just aren't 
worth enough to them to bother recovering for them, are they?)

Clearly there is a price at which almost any user of IPv4 space can make 
more money by shutting down and selling their IPv4 space back to 
newcomers than they would by staying in business (especially ISPs with 
thin profit margins, who I suspect hold most of the allocated space), 
and that's after all the space that could/will be returned by folks who 
can justify to their managers that the ROI for buying a big NAT and 
freeing addresses to return (for cash) is worth it, so there's 
essentially infinite space available if the newcomers are willing to pay 
enough (which, in theory, they won't... as at some point they either 
can't afford the space at that price, or at the very least IPv6 or other 
alternatives become very attractive).

Matthew Kaufman