In practiceServe networks today
i.LEASE — An IPv4 deal does not end when the money moves.
i.LEASE is a global marketplace for buying, selling and leasing IPv4 addresses, powered by LARUS. Note 66 explains why the IPv4 market needed more than ordinary brokerage.
From the Notes
“i.LEASE exists because the IPv4 market has outgrown ordinary brokerage.”
The deal is the short part
Networks still need IPv4 addresses to reach their customers. When a registry has none left to give, addresses change hands on the secondary market: an organisation that holds a block sells or leases it to one that needs it.
The visible part of that exchange is brief: find a block, agree a price, sign and transfer. Whether the addresses keep working is decided afterwards, by registry records, authorisation, routing, reputation and renewals.
What i.LEASE does
i.LEASE is a global IPv4 marketplace for the secondary market, powered by LARUS. ISPs, cloud providers and network operators use it to buy, sell, lease in and lease out IPv4 address space.
Beyond the listing, it coordinates the work that follows a transfer or a lease: registry and lifecycle steps, RIR membership administration and operational support. Customers keep ownership of their addresses and set their own commercial terms.
The broker question is a registry-risk question
In Note 66, Lu Heng argues that choosing a broker is not mainly a commercial decision. A broker who only matches buyer and seller passes the risk on; the real risk appears when the registry stops behaving like a neutral filing office and starts exercising discretion over assets that networks depend on.
His test is whether an IPv4 transaction stays usable when the addresses are routed, recorded, renewed, reviewed or questioned. i.LEASE is built on that premise, with LARUS behind it. In Note 35 he explains why that registry-layer exposure should sit with a specialist rather than inside the operator’s own company.
What a marketplace cannot promise
A marketplace cannot make a registry decide in anyone’s favour. i.LEASE says so plainly: it does not guarantee ownership, transferability, registry approval, price, timing or the outcome of a transaction, and it is not an escrow or custody service. Every buyer still checks the authority, the registry path, the routing and the reputation of the exact block.
That limit belongs to the argument. As long as a registry can exercise discretion over working networks, a market can reduce the risk but cannot remove it. Removing it is the change NRS pushes for: a right to leave, portability and administrators who can be replaced.
Read the argument, then see the market
Start with Note 66 for why i.LEASE exists and how it differs from ordinary brokerage. Note 35 follows the same risk from the operator’s side. Then visit i.LEASE for its current listings and services.