And indeed, in the APNIC region, 191,744 addresses were transferred in 2011 with another 713,216 in the first half of 2012. In the RIPE region Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East, the researchers couldn’t find any address transfers. But surprisingly, in the ARIN region North America—where there is no immediate shortage—no less than 821,504 addresses were transferred in 2011 with 4.22 million in the first half of 2012.

via IPv4 address transfer markets are forming where we least expected | Ars Technica.

But we now know there are other players than ISPs looking to secure enough IPv4 addresses for the medium term. There’s also the possibility that address trading will take off once trading between regions becomes a possibility, so that address-starved Asians can buy up addresses from North American companies such as HP. That company happens to be sitting on more than 33 million addresses. Or consider the US government, which has more than 168 million. Ultimately, maybe the money is better spent upgrading to IPv6 instead.