- A /16 IPv4 block acquired for nothing in the 1990s is now worth $1.5 million — and it is sitting idle on countless enterprise balance sheets.
- The leasing market grew 24 per cent last year alone — recurring revenue without selling the family silver. Here is how CFOs are approaching the decision.
In 1995, a network engineer at a Fortune 500 company requested a /16 block of IPv4 addresses. Sixty-five thousand five hundred and thirty-six unique identifiers. The request was approved without question. Address space was free, abundant, and treated like air.
There was no business case. No ROI calculation. No board approval. The addresses were assigned to a new data centre in Ohio, connected to servers that ran payroll and inventory systems. When that data centre closed in 2018, the addresses were not reclaimed. They were not monetised. They simply disappeared into the spreadsheet.
Thirty years later, that same block is worth more than the engineer’s entire career earnings. At current market rates, a /16 commands $1.3-2 million outright. Or it can generate $200,000-400,000 per year in recurring lease revenue.
This is the quiet wealth hiding in plain sight across enterprise IT. IPv4 exhaustion turned forgotten infrastructure into valuable assets. And in 2026, a growing number of organisations are cashing in.
Also Read: Historic price trends of the /24 IPv4 block reveal market maturity and volatility
The Numbers Behind the Opportunity
The arithmetic is unforgiving. IPv4’s 32-bit address space provided 4.3 billion unique identifiers. By 2011, free pools were exhausted. RIPE NCC (Europe) ran out in November 2019. APNIC (Asia-Pacific) in April 2011. ARIN (North America) in September 2015.
No new IPv4 addresses will ever be created.
Meanwhile, IPv6 adoption remains incomplete. Google’s statistics show global IPv6 traffic around 45 per cent. Consumer mobile networks lead. Enterprise networks lag. Industrial control systems, payment terminals, legacy APIs: these are the stubborn long tail of IPv4 dependency.
The result is a market that behaves like any scarce resource. Prices peaked above $50 per address in 2023-2024, now stabilised at $20-30. A /16 block commands $1.3-2 million outright, or $200,000-400,000 per year in recurring lease revenue.
Also Read: Why most ISPs miss massive revenue opportunities from IPv4
What CFOs Are Actually Doing
I spoke with three technology CFOs over the past month. All three manage enterprises with substantial IPv4 holdings. All three had evaluated monetisation. Only one had completed a transaction.
The hesitation is instructive. It reveals a gap between technical teams and finance teams. Network engineers know what addresses are in use. Finance teams know what assets are on the balance sheet. Rarely do these groups talk — which means IPv4 holdings fall into the space between.
“We knew we had surplus space,” said one CFO, who requested anonymity. “But we did not know how much. And we did not know what would happen if we sold it and then needed it back three years later.”
This captures the core tension. Monetisation requires certainty about future infrastructure needs — and certainty is rare in enterprise IT.
The Sale Option
Selling provides immediate capital. For organisations undergoing cloud migration or downsizing on-premises infrastructure, this can fund transformation without touching operational budgets.
The Maritz transaction is the canonical example. The US-based enterprise sold surplus IPv4 blocks during cloud migration, generating over $1.1 million. Proceeds were reinvested into application development and infrastructure upgrades.
But sales are irreversible. Once you sell, you do not get the addresses back. You can lease them back — but at market rates, which may be higher than your sale price implied.
When sale makes sense:
- IPv6 migration is advanced (>80 per cent of traffic)
- Immediate capital is more valuable than recurring revenue
- You have confidence addresses will not be needed for 7+ years
The Lease Option
Leasing preserves ownership while generating recurring revenue. It is the corporate equivalent of renting out a vacant property rather than selling it.
The economics are straightforward. A /20 block (1,024 addresses) purchased at $25 per address costs $25,600. Leased at 18 per cent annually, it generates $4,600 per year. Over seven years, that is $32,200 — more than the purchase price, and you still own the asset.
But leasing carries operational overhead. You must track lease terms, ensure compliance, and monitor address reputation. A lessee who uses your addresses for spam can damage the block’s value.
Service providers like LARUS and IPv4.Global manage this complexity. They charge 10-15 per cent of lease revenue as management fees. For enterprises without dedicated IP asset management capabilities, this is often worthwhile.
When leasing makes sense:
- IPv4 demand will persist for 5+ years
- Recurring revenue is more valuable than immediate capital
- You want to maintain optionality for future use
The Hybrid Approach
The most sophisticated operators are doing both.
A European telecommunications company held a /14 block (262,144 addresses) acquired in the 1990s. During a 2025 portfolio review, it determined 60 per cent was surplus. The company sold 100,000 addresses for $2.5 million immediate capital, then leased the remaining 50,000 for €150,000 annually.
This approach balances immediate and long-term value. It is also risk management — you are not betting entirely on one scenario.
What This Says About Digital Infrastructure
There is a larger story here.
For decades, IP addresses were treated as technical necessities — allocated, deployed, forgotten. Now they are recognised as assets worthy of board-level attention. This is not just about IPv4 scarcity. It is about a fundamental shift in how enterprises value digital infrastructure.
Spectrum licences have long been treated as balance-sheet assets. Data centre real estate is capitalised and depreciated. IP addresses are now joining that category — not because accountants decided so, but because markets forced the issue.
The CFO who chose to lease rather than sell put it simply: “We do not know what our infrastructure will look like in five years. Selling feels permanent. Leasing gives us flexibility.”
That flexibility has a price — but for many enterprises, it is the right trade-off.
The Bottom Line
IPv4 monetisation is no longer niche practice. A 2025 survey of Fortune 500 technology leaders found 34 per cent had formally evaluated IPv4 monetisation, and 18 per cent had completed transactions. The practice is moving from edge case to mainstream.
The window will not stay open forever. As IPv6 adoption creeps forward and conservation technologies improve, IPv4 dependency will eventually decline. But not yet. Not for the next five to seven years — which is the planning horizon that matters for CFOs making these decisions.
For enterprises willing to treat IP addresses as digital assets rather than static infrastructure, the opportunity is tangible. Through sales or leasing, organisations can transform dormant network resources into immediate capital or long-term revenue streams.
The decision is not whether to monetise. It is how — and when. And for the network engineer who requested that /16 block in 1995, it is proof that sometimes the most valuable assets are the ones you forgot you had.
