What Drives IPv4 Demand in Today’s Market?

IPv4 demand has outlived countless predictions of its decline. Even as IPv6 adoption continues to progress, the market for IPv4 remains active, competitive, and strategically important. To understand why, IPXO hosted a market-focused webinar with industry veterans Mike Burns (IPTrading) and Jake Brander (Brander Group), moderated by IPXO Co-Founder Vincentas Grinius.

Rather than focusing on headline prices alone, the discussion explored who is actually buying IPv4 today, how policy and funding programs influence demand, why prices behaved counterintuitively in recent years, and where leasing fits into the market’s next phase.

IPv4 demand hasn’t disappeared – it has diversified

One of the strongest signals from the webinar was consistency. IPv4 demand has not collapsed; instead, it has spread across a wider range of buyer profiles.

Web hosting providers, ISPs, data centers, VPN operators, and cloud-adjacent platforms continue to acquire IPv4 space. While hyperscalers remain important, reduced activity from that segment in recent periods was offset by renewed participation from mid-sized and smaller operators.

Over the past six months, leasing activity increased significantly, with buyers showing renewed appetite for mid-to-large blocks. This signals growing confidence among operators who expect IPv4 to remain operationally necessary for years to come.

Why prices fell – and why that doesn’t reflect demand

A common misconception is that falling IPv4 prices indicate declining relevance. The webinar highlighted why this conclusion misses the bigger picture.

Large IPv4 blocks are purchased by a limited number of buyers. When many sellers compete for relatively few buyers, pricing pressure is inevitable – even if underlying demand remains strong. Smaller blocks, by contrast, showed far greater price stability due to broader buyer competition.

Additional factors contributed to the downturn:

• Pandemic-era over-supply as address holders released inventory
• Reduced hyperscaler participation during 2024
• Policy constraints limiting who can buy, hold, or resell IPv4 space

The result was a price correction driven by transaction dynamics, not a loss of operational need.

BEAD funding and why 2026 may look different

One of the most concrete forward-looking drivers discussed was the BEAD program in the United States. While early expectations were adjusted, tens of billions of dollars will still flow into broadband infrastructure over the coming years.

This funding primarily targets regional and smaller ISPs – operators who are unlikely to buy massive IPv4 blocks outright. Instead, they are expected to rely on leasing, particularly for /16s and smaller ranges.

Several points stood out:

• BEAD recipients must meet audit and lawful access requirements
• Carrier-grade NAT complicates compliance and logging
• Assigning unique IPv4 addresses simplifies regulatory obligations

These dynamics are likely to increase demand for clean, lease-ready IPv4 space and may place upward pressure on pricing in already competitive segments.

IPv6 progress doesn’t remove IPv4 reality

Despite steady IPv6 adoption, the panel was clear: IPv6 has not displaced IPv4 in production networks.

Most ISPs still build their access networks around IPv4. Dual-stack deployments remain common but introduce additional cost, complexity, and operational risk. Translation technologies help, but they do not eliminate the burden of supporting IPv4-dependent services.

Replacing IPv4 across customers, applications, and vendor ecosystems would require long timelines and significant capital investment. As a result, IPv4 continues to anchor real-world network operations.

AI, automation, and the growing role of leasing

While AI has not yet driven a measurable spike in IPv4 transfers, it is beginning to influence leasing demand.

Workloads related to web crawling, data aggregation, and AI training often require IP rotation and short-term address usage. Ownership models are poorly suited to these patterns, while leasing provides flexibility.

Leasing enables operators to:

• Scale address usage dynamically
• Rotate IP pools to manage reputation risk
• Avoid long-term capital commitments

As AI-driven infrastructure matures, leasing is expected to absorb demand earlier than the transfer market.

IPv4 as an asset class, not just infrastructure

Another theme was the growing financial perspective on IPv4. Many large holders are choosing to lease rather than sell, generating yield while waiting for improved market conditions.

Returns cited during the webinar suggest that leasing can outperform outright sales under current pricing dynamics – particularly for blocks acquired at lower historical costs.

However, policy remains a limiting factor. Needs-based justification, holding periods, and transfer restrictions continue to constrain liquidity and institutional participation, shaping market behavior alongside supply and demand.

What the market signals point to next

Looking ahead, the panel aligned on several expectations:

• IPv4 prices are unlikely to decline significantly further
• Demand indicators for 2025 are strengthening
• Availability of large blocks may tighten
• Leasing will continue growing faster than transfers

The market is entering a mature phase – defined less by shocks and more by long-term structural forces.

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