IPSX - Decentralized IP Sharing Exchange

Introduction:
The internet is one of the main resources today, where we get all kind of information and stay connected with family and friends. From news reports, research and development, entertainment and communication, the possibilities of the internet are huge and it connects all of us around the world. Also thanks to internet compatible devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and computers, not only the user base, but also the number of connected devices are growing year by year. A research by Gartner Inc. states that there are 3.5 billion internet users as of 2017 and over 8.4 billion IoT devices in use. By the year 2020, 20.4 billion IoT devices are predicted to be in use, which will almost be 3 times from now (source: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3598917).

What our IoT devices have in common are not only a high speed CPU and memory chips, but also Internet Protocol Adresses called IP-Adresses. An IP address has two main functions, namely to host or network interface identification and location addressing.

Using remote IP adresses recently has become quite popular. Currently the market for remote IP usage is at around 60 billion USD with a yearly growing rate of 16%. As many countries have IP restrictions/censorship to have access to certain websites the demand for remote IP adresses are steadily increasing. Also more people care about their privacy and security of data. Therefore business providers are using remote IP adresses to build VPN applications, use them for data mining, security layers and other tasks.

A consumer survey in 2017 (source: vpnmentor.com) shows that the main reasons why people are using VPNs are mostly because of:

• Accessing entertainment content
• Accessing networks and sites restricted by the government
• Browsing anonymously
• Communication with relatives abroad

Main Problems:
Projects like TOR have proven that the usage of remote IP adresses are viable and widely accepted by the end users. But TOR has quite a lot problems they are currently facing, such as:

• Liabilities: Problems when sharing your IP
• No Revenues behind IP sharing
• Bandwidth and speed problems
• Only for private usage and not for business and service providers

The Solution by IPSX:
A currently ongoing project called "IPSX" (IP Exchange) has a solution for all those problems. IPSX is a decentralized IP exchange and framework for building application on top of the existing IPs shared by the community members and data centers. The IPSX is based on the blockchain system and thanks to the smart contract platform, utility tokens will be used as an incentive to share IPs around the world.

Main futures of IPSX are:

• Decentralized thanks to the blockchain technology. With that a marketplace with supply and demand can be created. Also micropayments through the smart contract can be made with a transparent way to track transactions.
• Improved Privacy and Security with the option to bypass censorship
• Internal Economy, incentive to earn tokens by sharing unused IPs
• Advanced Integration with SDK and API integration to offer clients to choose from IPs from all around the world
• Many compatible devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers and data centers

How does it work?
The end user can install the application on his or her device and share the device's IP with only few clicks on the IPSX platform. This can be the smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer or even data centers with alot of unused IPs. By sharing the IP adress, other users can have access to content that might have been restricted before. Three different layers, namely the blockchain layer, front layer and VPN connection layer are structering the IPSX ecosystem.
A detailed structured graphic explaining how the ecosystem works can be seen here, but also read on the technical design documents:

The IPSX-Token:
IPSX-Tokens are the official cryptocurrency for the IP-Exchange ecosystem. IPSX tokens are utility tokens and are based on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC20-compatible). Furthermore the tokens will be used as an exchange between the actors of the IPSX ecosystem, among others as an incentive reward to share unused IP adresses.

• The total amount of IPSX-tokens are 1,800,000,000
• 50%, namely 900,000,000 will be for the total sale
• Payment method is ETH
• 1 ETH grants 70,588 IPSX
• Hardcap is 10,800 ETH (while private sales already collected 6,500 ETH)
• Sale is currently live

The total token distribution looks as follows:

The Roadmap:
Here you can see the Roadmap from the IPSX project. The concept was created back in August 2017. By the end of the year their website was build and the whitepaper was created. Currently the project is in its public sale phase to collect funds for project growth and development. By Q2 the team wants to enable cross device apps and securiy. And shortly after that in Q3 the official launch of the exchange is to be expected. Probably also a more detailed roadmap is to be expected after the token sale.

My Opinion:
As I mainly use the internet on a daily basis, taking care of my privacy and my personal data are quite important to me. I am using VPNs on my computer and mobile devices, especially when I am not at home. Seeing more and more countries restricting people to have access to certain news sources around the world, I strongly believe that the usage of remote IP adresses will significantly grow also with the increasing number of internet users. IPSX seems to me like a perfect solution for those kind of problems. Their project plan and idea are quite clear and by using the incentive model based on the blockchain, I believe that many people will use this IP exchange. I will definetely give it a try and will write another blog on it, once the project finally launches near end of the year. Until then I am excited to see how the project will develop.

Further Information:
If you are interested in the IPSX project and want to learn more about this project, kindly take a look at their official website, their whitepaper for more detailed information and subscribe to their official communication channels to stay up to date.

Website: https://ip.sx/
Whitepaper: https://ip.sx/dist/Whitepaper-IPSX-05.pdf
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IPExchange
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ipexchange1
Telegram Chat: https://t.me/IPExchange
Bitcointalk ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2897132.0
My Bitcointalk Profile (Rano): https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1609093