Investors are always looking for new opportunities in the crypto market, seeking out promising tokens that have lots of potential to dramatically rise in value. As such, it’s no wonder that many are asking if AdEx’s native token ADX is worth buying, considering its small market cap, impressive volumes and experience team, plus its status as a long-established Web3 platform.
AdEx first made its name more than seven years ago as a decentralized advertising platform, and the project is benefiting from increased momentum now after undergoing a major revamp.
The AdEx platform dates back to 2017, originally launching as a comprehensive ad network that served advertisers and publishers alike. But earlier this year it announced it was reinventing itself as a demand-side platform in order to focus on advertisers only.
AdEx’s change of focus looks like a good way for the project to further its fortunes. Previously, it was engaged in a highly competitive industry, competing against rivals like Brave and its Basic Attention Token, Bitclave, adChain and qChain, to name just a few.
While advertisers were generally satisfied with AdEx’s platform, there were complaints over the quality of traffic it generated and its lack of invoicing tools. It was because of those issues that AdEx opted to relaunch itself as a programmatic, demand-side platform that’s exclusively targeted at Web3 advertisers only.
What Problems Does AdEX Solve?
AdEx cites a number of reasons for adapting its business model, with one of the most important being that it helps to solve what it terms the “chicken and egg” problem. By focusing exclusively on one side of the marketplace – advertisers – it leaves the issue of publishers to supply-side platforms.
The decision enables AdEx to position itself as a specialist, catering to the unique needs of Web3 advertisers with a programmatic advertising system that’s designed to enhance ad performance. Moreover, by leaving the publishing to third-party supply-side platforms, advertisers are no longer limited exclusively to crypto publishers alone. Instead, they can target a more diverse audience across the entire web.
AdEx announced its plans earlier this year and wasted little time in getting its new platform up and running, launching in beta in April. For now, the AdEx platform only offers a “cost-per-mile” business model, pricing ads based on every 1,000 impressions they receive. However, it plans to launch additional cost-per-click and cost-per-acquisition models in future, so advertisers can choose the strategy they’re most comfortable with.
In addition to these new pricing models, AdEx is rapidly building out backend optimization functionality on its platform to help advertisers get better results with their ads.
What Innovations Has AdEx Come Up With?
One of the key elements that helps AdEx to stand out in an online advertising market that’s estimated to be worth up to $2 trillion by the end of the decade is its novel zero knowledge targeting engine. It incorporates a cryptographic technique known as zero-knowledge proofs to ensure full privacy for users, even when their personal information is used to guide advertisers their way.
With its ZK-targeting engine, AdEx is giving advertisers a more ethical alternative to the traditional practices of collecting and storing user’s data. It’s a superior solution that’s likely to curry favor with both netizens who are fed up of being tracked online, and also governments that are increasingly clamping down on such tactics with tighter privacy laws.
AdEx’s ZK-targeting engine works by storing each user’s data, such as their browsing history, past purchase and other information locally, on their personal device. Therefore, the entire ad matching process also takes place on the user’s device. Such an approach means that user’s data never has to be sent to a centralized server and stored, increasing privacy.
User’s data is also encrypted, and AdEx goes even further by giving each individuals full control over the kinds of ads they want to see. Each user has their own profile, and from there they can choose to opt out entirely if they wish, or otherwise specify what kinds of ads they want to see, and who they want to share their data with. To encourage them to participate, AdEx offers users an incentive, distributing ADX tokens as a reward for each ad they view.
A second incentive stems from AdEx’s new staking portal. It allows users to stake the rewards they collect to earn even more ADX tokens by participating in its network. Users can become validators and earn rewards directly by staking a minimum amount of ADX, or else they can delegate their stake to another validator and earn a portion of theirs.
AdEx itself generates revenue via a 7% commission on each ad campaign launched in USDC, USDT and DAI tokens, and a 4% commission for those launched with ADX.
Why Does AdEx Stand Out?
AdEx is unique in that it’s specifically targeting Web3 advertisers, enabling them to reach out to an essentially untapped audience of regular Web2 users that might be interested in crypto products and services. It relies on programmatic advertising to target its ads at the most promising audiences, while respecting those users’ privacy.
It also offers strong security with its blockchain-enhanced ZK-targeting engine, while advertisers benefit from some of the lowest fees in the industry. Add to that, its platform is fully transparent, so everyone can see that its ad bidding process is fair.
Although AdEx isn’t the only decentralized advertising platform in town, it differentiates itself as it’s the only platform of its kind that’s focused on connecting Web3 advertisers to traditional publishers. It therefore offers crypto projects the opportunity to reach out to an untapped audience, as opposed to limiting themselves to only those users who are already exploring Web3. Its fees are extremely competitive too, with most other demand-side advertising platforms charging commissions of between 20%-30%.
What Utility Does ADX Provide?
For investors, one of the key questions to ask when considering a new project regards what the token is actually used for. In the case of AdEx, the ADX token provides clear utility in terms of payments, staking, rewards and governance.
While advertisers can also pay to launch ad campaigns on its platform in USDC, USDT and DAI, they receive a significant discount for using ADX, which should help to ensure high demand for the token. Simply by buying and spending ADX, advertisers can get far more bang for their buck, increasing the impact of each ad campaign. So there’s every reason for advertisers to invest in ADX.
The entire AdEx community can benefit from staking. To stake ADX, users can go through the Ambire Wallet or the AdEx staking portal on its website, generating rewards of up to 15% APY. This gives everyone an opportunity to participate in the health of its network while maximizing the potential of the rewards they earn.
ADX rewards are also paid out to validators who perform the vital role of processing transactions on the AdEx network. They play a key role in maintaining the platform’s security.
Finally, holding ADX tokens is key for those who want to participate in AdEx’s community governance. Any ADX holder is free to make a proposal and vote on them, so the entire community gets to have a say in its development process and guide its evolution over time.
Who’s Behind AdEx?
AdEx’s team is made up of experienced professionals who have previously carved out successful careers in the AdTech and blockchain industries.
Its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Ivo Georgiev is an old hand in the crypto industry, and one of the primary creators of AdEx’s Ambire Wallet, which is a smart, non-custodial digital asset wallet with simplified recovery and management features. Prior to leading AdEx, Georgiev co-founded a blockchain media company called Stremio, which grew to more than 32 million users.
AdEx’s other co-founder is its Chief Operating Officer Dimo Stoyanov, who first met Georgiev in 2012, before co-founding Stremio with him a year later.
Stoyanov and Georgiev say it was while trying to monetize Stremio that they first realized how ineffective modern ad platforms are for Web3 products and services, leading to their decision to launch AdEx as one of the very first decentralized ad exchanges in the crypto industry.
Should I Invest In ADX?
ADX has been around for many years already, so it’s only natural to wonder if ADX is still a good investment or not. In the past, ADX has delivered significant returns for investors, especially those who got in early, and there is reason to think that there is still lots of potential for this asset to go places following the strategic shift of AdEx itself.
That’s all the more true when we consider that ADX has a remarkably low market cap for such a prominent token, currently standing at less than $20 million. Add to that its impressive daily average trading volume of just over $2 million, and it’s clear that there is a lot of interest and plenty of demand for this asset.
Other reasons to buy ADX include its potential returns for stakers, with a generous 15%APY on offer, making it an attractive option for long-term holders.
As always, with any crypto investment, it’s essential to do your own research, read about the fundamentals of the AdEx project, the purpose of ADX within that ecosystem, the underlying technology, its market positioning and the competitive landscape. Every investor has their own level of risk tolerance, and like all crypto assets, the price of ADX can be extremely volatile, so its down to the individual to decide if they can tolerate its potential price swings.
Investing in ADX has a lot of potential upside though, as AdEx stands out as a very competitive player, building cutting-edge infrastructure for a $2 trillion advertising market. The potential is there for investors to make some very lucrative gains, for AdEx aims to disrupt the advertising industry with a strong solution that solves problems around transparency, privacy, accuracy and fraud, delivering more value to advertisers while respecting the privacy of users and plying them with lots of rewards.
There are no guarantees with any investment, but there are good reasons to be bullish on the long-term prospects for ADX.