title: When will RIPE run out of IPv4 addresses?
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pub_date: 2019-10-10
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author: ungleich
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twitter_handle: ungleich
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_hidden: no
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_discoverable: yes
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abstract:
This month? Next month? On 2019-11-25!
---
body:

As of today,
[RIPE has less than 1 million IPv4 addresses available](https://www.ripe.net/manage-ips-and-asns/ipv4/ipv4-available-pool).

![ripe ipv4 pool](/u/ripe_ipv4_pool_20191010.png)

So the question is, how long until RIPE does not have any IPv4
addresses anymore? Or more specifically,
**which is the exact date on which RIPE will have run out of IPv4
addresses**?

We are very curious and wonder who can best predict the exact date.
And because it's a lot of fun to guess the right time, we will give
out an **IPv6 only VM for free** to the person that guesses the exact
date.

## Guesses

* ~~[@TuxOne](https://twitter.com/Tux0ne/status/1182309473521737728) 2019-10-23 08:27~~
* ~~[@objetsfabuleux](https://twitter.com/objetsfabuleux/status/1182305989128855552)
  2019-10-26 ([the same day as the IPv4 exhaustion
  party](https://www.meetup.com/Digital-Glarus-Business-Technology/events/264859527/),
  so it must be correct)~~
* ~~[@natedalliard](https://twitter.com/natedalliard/status/1182256538305667072)
  2019-11-08~~
* ~~[@JoelAMay](https://twitter.com/JoelAMay/status/1183225050486325248)
  2019-11-11. Hopefully at 11:11:11 (that's probably the most sane
  guess we have seen so far)~~
* ~~[@RickBakkr](https://twitter.com/RickBakkr/status/1182260610458963968)
  2019-11-12~~
  * ~~[@inoobkivervip](https://twitter.com/inoobkilervip/status/1182261254288760832)
    2019-11-12 @ 1PM BST (submitted three minutes after @RickBakkr)~~
* ~~[@zajdee](https://twitter.com/zajdee/status/1182236698266275846) 2019-11-15~~
* ~~[@MrXermon](https://twitter.com/MrXermon/status/1182254662914850817) 2019-11-25~~
* ~~[@Sami_Lehtinen](https://twitter.com/Sami_Lehtinen/status/1182366137876701184) 2019-11-15 Friday~~
* ~~[@VertXVaaR](https://twitter.com/VerteXVaaR/status/1182791748139061249)
  2019-11-22 (a nice date)~~
* **[@pb_double](https://twitter.com/pb_double/status/1182236265233752064)
  2019-11-27 0610 UTC (very precise!)**
* ~~[@agowa338](https://twitter.com/agowa338/status/1182236572047101952)~~
  2019-11-28~~
* ~~[@NicoSchottelius](https://twitter.com/ungleich/status/1185153567243550722)~~
  2019-12-03~~
* ~~[@treysis](https://twitter.com/treysis/status/1182256065213280261)
  2019-12-04~~
* ~~[@ReplicaJune](https://twitter.com/ReplicaJune/status/1182235564180942849)
  2019-12-12~~
* ~~[@mrimann](https://twitter.com/mrimann/status/1182769149233238016) 2019-12-16~~
* ~~[@Mac_S13](https://twitter.com/Mac_S13/status/1182242286714970113)
  2019-12-24 (a Christmas present?)~~
* ~~[@le_roncio](https://twitter.com/el_roncio/status/1182301050247827456) 2019-12-29~~
* ~~[@sighubCH](https://twitter.com/sighupCH/status/1182332420487557121)
  2020-01-11 09:32~~
* ~~[@STAXCON1](https://twitter.com/STAXCON1/status/1182795161266458626)
  2020-01-17 03:23~~


## Want to guess?

Just follow [@ungleich](https://twitter.com/ungleich) on Twitter
and post your guess as [a reply to our tweet](https://twitter.com/ungleich/status/1182234419102388224).

Rules are:

* You cannot use the same date somebody else already guessed
* You can only guess once
* You can only guess until 2019-10-13-2359 UTC

## And the winners is ...?

Unfortunately, nobody guessed the exact date.
However, the nearest guess came from
[@pb_double](https://twitter.com/pb_double), with less than 2 days of
difference. He was followed by
[@VertXVaaR](https://twitter.com/VerteXVaaR) and
[@agowa338](https://twitter.com/agowa338/) with
3 days of difference.
