IPv4 Markets

More Than 80% of AfriNIC Addresses Detected Outside Africa Linked to a Single Company

New measurements link Cloud Innovation to 81% of AfriNIC IPv4 addresses detected outside Africa, raising questions about regional allocation policies, contractual obligations and the evidence needed to establish compliance.

The February Case That Could End Africa’s Internet Registry

Cloud Innovation's petition to dissolve AFRINIC returns to Mauritius's Supreme Court in 2027, raising questions about the registry's governance, contested membership rights, legal costs and continuity of Internet address services across Africa.

Who Still Governs Africa’s Internet Resources?

Cloud Innovation's reappearance in AFRINIC's Mauritian membership register raises questions about governance, judicial oversight and institutional independence. The author calls for transparent records, scrutiny of conflicts of interest and an orderly end to receivership.

ICANN’s New gTLD Round Draws 16 African Applications, 10 Controlled by a Chinese Business Network

A Seychelles company controlled by Lu Heng accounts for 10 of Africa's 16 new gTLD applications, linking ICANN's domain expansion to commercial interests and an ongoing dispute over AFRINIC's governance and IPv4 resources.

IPv4 Has Two Clocks: Why Acquisition and Deployment Don’t Move at the Same Speed

IPv4's fixed supply masks a crucial mismatch: addresses can be acquired quickly but deployed only gradually. After 2025's price declines, returns increasingly depend on lease rates, absorption speed and the operator's ability to monetise inventory.

AFRINIC’s Constitution Is Africa’s Next Internet Stress Test

AFRINIC's proposed Constitution offers Africa's troubled internet registry a chance to turn years of litigation, disputed elections and institutional paralysis into durable governance, provided reforms constrain external capture, internal concentration and administrative overreach alike.

National Internet Registries: Gatekeeper or Enabler?

National Internet Registries were created to give countries greater control over internet number resources. Yet where they add opacity and restrict transfers, they can trap scarce IPv4 capacity, slowing growth instead of strengthening digital resilience.

IPv4 Market in H1 2026: A Price Reset, Not a Market Collapse

IPv4 transfers accelerated in the first half of 2026, but surging activity masked a decisive pricing reset as average values fell, sellers accepted lower valuations, and the market settled into a more mature equilibrium overall.

The Multi-Stakeholder Mirage: How Internet Governance Turned Attendance Into Mandate

Internet multi-stakeholder governance mistakes participation for legitimacy, granting policy processes implied authority without public authorization. As IPv4 becomes capital, operator accountability, not attendance, should define binding decision-making and institutional legitimacy instead of consensus.

June IPv4 Trends: The Quiet Return of the IPv4 Bull Market

New transfer data suggests IPv4's apparent decline has reversed as record trading, rising prices, infrastructure demand and tightening supply reveal a market driven by deployment rather than speculation once again despite accelerating IPv6 adoption globally.

IPv4 Pricing Through 2026 - Stability as Seller Leverage Begins to Return

After a sharp correction, the IPv4 market is showing signs of stabilization. Rising buyer activity, tightening supply expectations, and growing AI infrastructure demand are expected to support gradual price recovery through 2026, improving conditions for sellers.

IPv4 Is Now a Sellers Market - What to Expect in 2026

After two years of falling prices, the IPv4 market has turned decisively. Surging transfer volumes, AI infrastructure demand and looming broadband expansion are tightening supply, pushing prices higher and leaving patient buyers facing a costlier reality.

The Internet Is Fragmenting - Most of the People Who Should Notice Aren’t Looking

The internet is fragmenting across cables, routing systems and governance. Most network engineers, focused on regional operations, are missing how technical infrastructure and state power are reshaping a once interoperable network.

Running-Code Primacy - The Patch Needed to Preserve the Internet’s Original Design

This essay argues that Internet governance has drifted from technical coordination into unaccountable institutional power, and proposes "Running-Code Primacy" as a post-RIR framework grounded in distributed validation, interoperability, and voluntary adoption rather than registry authority.

Registry Under Siege: Investigating NRS Outreach to AFRINIC Members

As AFRINIC rebuilds after years of litigation, the Number Resource Society is urging members to sign powers of attorney, raising fears that coordinated advocacy, commercial interests and geopolitical pressures could reshape African control over critical internet resources.