The Blockchain Philosophy: where CryptoAds fits in
In keeping with the core tenets of the blockchain philosophy and architecture, CryptoAds developed by CFC, looks set to be a promising alternative and solution to address the hegemony of the online advertising industry. In this CryptoAds ICO Review we will discover the technical details and plans for this to happen.
According to their forecasts, the potential sum added by intermediaries to an advertising product as it winds its way from the advertiser to the final end-user can be as high as 1000%. That’s quite a markup. Tackling this along with providing complete transparency and immutable histories, contributing to advertiser’s ratings, are the focal areas CryptoAds is aiming for – leveling the online advertising playing field in the process.
CryptoAds meets the Blockchain: the Backdrop
Conceived back in 2011, CryptoAds grew quickly and received contributions in 2013 before moving onto the blockchain in 2015. Since then the team behind CryptoAds has been closely examining its functionality and inner workings before preparing the concept and moving onto the ICO and launch.
So how does it work?
Built on the Ethereum network and aimed at the B2B market, the platform is transparent and secure, providing decentralized advertising solutions without the need for a central exchange. CryptoAds provides the bandwidth and computing power to track and verify ad clicks and impressions while taking their cut as a fractional percentage of token payments.
Cutting costs for the advertiser is one thing, but CryptoAds aims to go a step further, says their CEO and founder Oleksii Vinogradov. According to him, low price ads are just the tip of the iceberg. By utilizing Ethereum smart contract technology every user will have their complete history recorded and this will make up their overall rating. This is aimed at promoting transparency and preventing fraud.
The application of this can be taken further, by selectively choosing which users an ad targets, such as those with the highest trust ratings. Through the smart contract system they have developed, the top rated users have the opportunity to earn within the network. This concept will, Oleg explains, enable users to select advertisers’ products and services based on their rating, which will reflect the caliber of their ads.
The Ad Market: Recent Controversy
CryptoAds has launched their coinsale in the wake of controversial stirrings in the wider online advertising world. Facebook, Twitter, Google and now Microsoft have all implemented bans on crypto advertising on their platforms.
The reasons behind the moves of the largest online advertisers have been hotly contested, with their official reasons running along the lines of lack of regulation and the additional security risks this poses for end users.
This is, in part, understandable since ICO fund generating fell victim to scams and frauds in 2017 where investors were left out of pocket. However, anyone who knows the veracity of blockchain technology and the practical solutions it offers will appreciate that a blanket ban on all crypto advertising is quite a leap. Careful screening and insisting on prototypes and a minimum viable product (MVP) would have kept the advertising space available and under strict watch.
Whether these bans will play into the hands of CryptoAds is yet to be seen. ICOs and blockchain-affiliated groups may favor their platform for promotion, and not just for the ethical reasons but because there are now limited channels open to them.
Token Sales
May 15th saw the release of their presale tokens with 40% of tokens allocated for purchase in the presale and sale:
- 28% in the presale/sale
- 10% available to the team
- 2% in bounties.
The remaining 60% are allocated to network growth through rewarding publishers and users earning, and the token reserve.
CryptoAds has allocated 50% of funds into R&D, and 30% into marketing and sales with the remaining 20% going to legal, registration, admin and operations.
Their overall ICOBench rating is 4.4 with an expert rating 4 for the team makeup.
With their presale ending soon and the main sale starting mid-June, CryptoAds have already raised over $3.2 million in funds: just over 10% of their $30 million hard cap.
With a minimum individual cap of $100USD and no maximum cap, CryptoAd’s CRAD coin is available for all to purchase from individual small sums to large group investments.
The Road Ahead
CryptoAds has ambitious plans: with tokens issued mid-July at the end of the crowd sale and subsequently listed on exchanges and commencing platform development in early August. They aim to finalize the platform at year-end and launch at the start of 2019.
At present they state to having 100 advertisers on board, with a good proportion advertising on their platform daily. On the whole, the platform sees about 100,000 users per month, with 7 million users in total, mainly from the U.S. and India, with others from the U.K., Russia and the Middle East. By their own forecasts, they see their user audience growing to around 1.5 million by the end of 2018 alone: forming one of their current main objectives. 2018 is set to mark the arrival of developers to begin integrating the platform into their apps as well, further increasing CryptoAd’s reach.
With significant milestones approaching, interested parties will undoubtedly follow CryptoAd’s progress with rigor, and weigh their advances with crypto-related advertising rulings in the wider market.
