Marco Schmidt – The Infinite Ledger: Tracking the Evolution, Politics, and Future of Internet Number Resources

Marco Schmidt is Manager of Registration Services at the RIPE NCC. He oversees the registration and maintenance of Internet number resources across the RIPE NCC service region. He also manages how accepted policies get implemented in RIPE NCC procedures and operations.

Marco joined the RIPE NCC as an IP Resource Analyst in the Registry Services department, where he worked for five years. In that role, he evaluated IPv4, IPv6, and Autonomous System Number requests and supported the RIPE NCC membership directly. He later became the RIPE NCC’s Policy Development Officer, where he supported and drove the RIPE community’s Policy Development Process, both externally and internally.

At BalticNOG 2026, Marco will bring this experience to the stage with his talk, “The Infinite Ledger: Tracking the Evolution, Politics, and Future of Internet Number Resources.”

From a Research Experiment to Global Infrastructure

Every connection, routing decision, and network boundary depends on a finite set of identifiers: IPv4, IPv6, and ASNs. Marco’s talk traces how an addressing scheme built for a research experiment scaled to support billions of users worldwide.

He will walk through the early, informal days of address allocation, the creation of the IANA function, and the shift from a single central ledger to the distributed Regional Internet Registry framework we use today.

IPv4 Exhaustion and the Rise of Transfer Markets

IPv4 exhaustion changed how the industry treats address space. Marco will cover the emergence of secondary transfer and leasing markets, and the administrative work needed to document legacy space and leasing practices as the market matured.

Where IPv6 Deployment Stands Now

Marco will give a current view of IPv4 and IPv6 deployment. He will look at the push for registry data quality and explain why transparency matters for keeping the internet’s registry system trustworthy.

The Politics Shaping Internet Number Resources Today

Beyond the technical history, Marco will address the geopolitical pressures now facing internet infrastructure and the registry ecosystem. He will connect these pressures to the practical questions operators face around data accuracy and governance.

Why You Shouldn’t Miss This Talk

Every network in the room runs on IPv4, IPv6, or ASN allocations that trace back to decisions made decades ago. Marco’s talk connects that history to what operators deal with today: transfer markets, data accuracy, and the politics behind who controls what address space.

If you work with number resources in any capacity, this talk gives you the context behind the policies and processes you follow every day.

📅 When: 23-24 September 2026

📍 Where: BalticNOG 2026, Riga, Latvia

🔗 Don’t miss BalticNOG! Register today: https://balticnog.org/tickets/