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Foodpanda Goes Blockchain for Digital-Out-of-Home Advertising Enabled by the Zilliqa Blockchain

Food delivery company Foodpanda has announced that it is testing a blockchain-enabled digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising scheme. Foodpanda works with over 27,000 restaurants in over 190 cities in 12 countries. The food delivery company also recently launched “Pandamart” and “Pandanow” to offer on-demand delivery services. The aim of the new blockchain-enabled pilot has been identified as being present across offline moments when consumers make their decisions on food delivery.

The traditional out-of-home (OOH) advertising relies on outdoor advertising, sending the message to consumers while they are commuting to work or in commercial locations. Digital out-of-home is the advanced and digital version, providing geofencing, tracking, retargeting, personalization features.

To facilitate the technology behind the blockchain-enabled DOOH scheme, Singapore-based blockchain marketing firm Aqilliz is using the Zilliqa blockchain for its clients in the digital advertising industry. Aqilliz is also partnering with Moving Walls, a technology firm for the blockchain pilot.

Srikanth Ramachandran, the CEO of Moving Walls commented on the use of blockchain technology in the campaign, “There are more fundamental issues of fragmentation and a lack of transparency that needs to be fixed. This campaign gives us the opportunity to implement emerging technologies in order to solve long-standing infrastructural problems to the benefit of all participating partners across the OOH supply chain.”

Smart contracts on Zilliqa will be facilitated for the advertising pilot of Foodpanda to enable the verification of ad delivery of promised spots and impressions. Aqilliz made claims that with the use of blockchain technology, companies like Foodpanda will be able to verify easily whether their digital advertising campaigns have been seen.

Since its inception, Zilliqa has been committed to addressing existing issues within blockchain architectures, be it scalability or security. In the case of the former, Zilliqa adopts linear scalability, which allows the network to process more transactions per second as more mining nodes join the network. This technically challenging feat has not been successfully replicated or adapted by many other existing blockchains.

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Facebook Sues Bangkok 'LeadCloak' Software Developer Over Alleged Crypto Scams and Bogus COVID-19 Data

Facebook Inc has taken legal action against a Bangkok-based Indian man for developing and selling software that helps bad actors to bypass Facebook’s automated advertising review systems and deliver prohibited ads to users.

Software Cloaked Bad Actors

Facebook announced that they were taking action against Basant Gajjar for allegedly selling his “LeadCloak software” to bad actors who have been hiding the true contents of ads and delivering deceptive information involving crypto investment scams and bogus data about COVID-19. The malicious cloaking software allowed users to present deceptive ads on the surface newsfeed of the Facebook platform and prevented the social media giant’s review process from identifying the fradulent or improper ads.

Advertisers used the “LeadCloak software” to conceal websites and promote links for cryptocurrency investment scams, deceptive diet pills, pharmaceuticals, fake news, and even misinformation regarding the COVID-19 outbreak through the “cloaking” technique. Such shady ads showed on both Instagram and Facebook.

Gajjar’s unregistered business is based in California. The business has been providing cloaking services since 2016, targeting other technology companies, including WordPress, Oath, Shopify Inc, and Alphabet Inc’s Google.

With the lawsuit filed in the US district court in California, Facebook also intends to uncover the identities of Gajjar’s customers and take further legal action against them. While Facebook is currently suing one individual, it appears that the firm is attempting to make an example of ad spoofers who have attempted to manipulate the market.

Facebook Relaxed Blockchain And Crypto Ads

Facebook lifted its ban on blockchain and crypto ads in May 2019. But most of them still have to be pre-approved by moderators before they can appear on the platform. The $491 billion firm has been trying to deal with crypto scams for years. Scammers are known to use fake pages and call-to-actions as distraction tactics to trick users into giving sensitive data such as their credit card information.

Last year, Dutch billionaire John de Mol won his lawsuit against Facebook after the social media giant failed to take down fake cryptocurrency ads, which used his name for promotion. Recently, billionaire Wissam al Mana filed a lawsuit against the social media company, demanding the firm to identify individuals behind ads selling Bitcoin scams using his image. However, Facebook announced that it remains committed to using filter technologies to get rid of fake ads linked to cryptocurrency scams carrying images of prominent personalities.

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UK Government Wants FCA Oversight on Crypto Investment Advertising

The UK Government has proposed that crypto asset promotions should fall under the scope of the Financial Conduct Authority’s existing oversight and does not require a whole new framework just for digital assets.

The UK Government wants to provide the FCA with the power to regulate crypto asset advertising and promotion under its existing oversight framework.

According to a report on July 20, Economic Secretary to the Treasury & City Minister, John Glen believes that companies that provide and promote cryptocurrency investment, even regulated investment products with underlying crypto assets, will most likely require FCA authorization to continue operations in the near future.

The UK Treasury believes the lack of regulation around cryptocurrency and their associated financial products often leaves investors in the space without the same protections that are granted to retail investors, such as authoritative recourse and compensation.

City Minister Glen said, “If adverts by unauthorized firms are misleading, or don’t fully outline the risks, then people can end up losing money. That’s why we want to put more protections in place around such financial promotions, including the promotion of crypto assets, while continuing to ensure people have access to a wide range of products on the market.”

The fastest solution being proposed is to immediately empower the FCA to begin regulating the promotion of digital asset and crypto investment products, as a way to combat misleading advertising.

UK Citizen’s Looking for Fast Riches Amid Crypto Scam Climate

According to the City Minister John Glen, the current regulatory framework requires unauthorized firms to have their promotional material approved by a regulated firm before promoting any particular financial product.

Glen argues that current regulations have failed to keep up with the onslaught of cryptocurrency products being brought to market. Glen has proposed that regulated firms should now have to pass through the FCS approval gateway in order to obtain specific consent to approve the promotion of cryptocurrency products.

Data from the FCA shows that a vast majority of UK consumers are buying virtual coins in an effort to get rich quickly and perceive cryptocurrency and emerging altcoins as shortcuts to wealth.

This data comes at an alarming time as bitcoin and cryptocurrency scams have continued to circulate on social media to promote getting rich through crypto. These scams often use false celebrity endorsement and images of luxurious lifestyles that are alluring to consumers in search of financial shortcuts. Currently, the FCA does not consider digital assets or crypto themselves to be regulated assets, but any derivative products built on the back of them does fall withing the scope of its oversight.

Facebook, Google, Twitter Face $600 Million Class Action Lawsuit Over Cryptocurrency Ad Ban

Facebook, Google, and Twitter have been slammed in a class-action lawsuit over a 2018 cryptocurrency ad ban. The lawsuit was instigated by a group of cryptocurrency businesses and individuals who claim that the ban placed by these social media giants has hurt their businesses. The claimants are being represented by a Sydney-based firm JPB Liberty.

The lawsuit is a no-win-no-fee case and is awaiting funding to file as the allegedly affected companies and individuals expect more people to join the lawsuit. Should the firms be indicted, they risk paying $600 million (A$872million) in claims, a figure that could rise to $300 billion (A$436 billion) as more people join the cause.

Since most cryptocurrency exchanges were not regulated back in 2018 as the claimants observed, the advertisement ban had prevented them from legitimate businesses from using social media platforms to drive their business growth. Should the lawsuit end up in the claimant’s favor, the settlement fee will be split 30 to 70 between funders and the claimants.

Prevalence of Lawsuit in the Crypto Ecosystem

Lawsuits are commonplace in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. Back in April, Ripple (XRP) filed a lawsuit against Google-owned Youtube for failing to take action to prevent consumers from being swindled by “Giveaway” perpetrated using fake social media profiles.

JPMorgan Chase also paid $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit over unannounced changes made to the fee structure applied to crypto transactions by customers using its credit cards in 2018. As many lawsuits are spiked by different causes, the three social media giants indicted in the JPB Liberty may claim to justify the ban they placed as Australia is particularly prone to cryptocurrency-related scams.

As the three firms prepare for what is ahead, twitter is having a particularly challenging time following the hack of the platform in the past week.

How Small Businesses can use Blockchain?

If you keep tabs on the technological world then there is no way you could have overlooked blockchain. Just like any other revolutionary technology, blockchain is currently showing lots of promises and soon it will become one of the most impactful technological evolutions. This is one of the main reasons why the total blockchain investment reached around 3.08 million dollars and it will continue growing in the future as well.

If you are already aware about blockchain then you must be also aware of the fact how it has completely changed payments. There is no denial in the fact that blockchain started with payment but now it has become much more than just a tool for improving payments.

Here are some of the best ways small businesses can use blockchain without burning a hole in their pocket.

Proof of identity

You should know that blockchain contains many blocks of untamperable data and this is why it is considered an excellent tool for providing vital data. In the modern era, identity theft has become one of the biggest worries for most of the firms and people out there and blockchain is the best way to prevent it.

In a similar manner, blockchain can be used for verifying new business partners or it can also be used for checking the credentials of an employee and their work history. So, we can say that blockchain can be used as a protector and proof of identity.

Validating supply chain

If you are running a small business where you are already validating products with the help of blockchain then instead of limiting the applications of blockchain to product validation, you should start using it for the supply chain as well. This will allow you to easily track where the different parts of your products are coming from and it will also help you in showing your customer that your supply chain has no complications and it is completely clean.

There are many small firms out there that have already started using blockchain for validating their supply chain and they have been quite successful with their approach. In the modern era, customers will be really interested in buying a product from a company that uses a supply chain in which there is no involvement of child labor or there are no inhuman working conditions.

Protecting intellectual property

We are living in a digital era and this era might have given us many benefits but it has come along with many challenges as well. One such challenge that people have to face is regarding their intellectuals properly. In the digital era, protecting intellectual property has become quite challenging but you can overcome this challenge by using blockchain, especially if you are running a small-sized business.

You should know that you can use blockchain for keeping your intellectual property safe, regardless of how or where you publish it. But this is not it as even while selling the intellectual property to your customers, you can stay safe if you will start using blockchain.

Controlling advertising

With new products being launched virtually every second, it has become really difficult to make your ads stand out of the crowd, especially when the whole ad landscape has become crowded. And in such a crowded market, how can you make sure that your ads are hitting the right target? Well, you can do this by tracking traffic with the help of blockchain.

A consumer that will open your ad will create a blockchain record for you and this will allow you to check the different circumstances of your ad’s delivery. But you should also know that this will go both ways as when you will start using blockchain then you will also be allowing your customer to see how you are handling the data. This is why you will have to use it wisely and make it the star of your firm.

Blockchain is soon going to be one of the most revolutionary technologies out there but it will take some time for this technological miracle to mature and become a new normal for everyone out there. If you are running a small business then you should start looking for ways to harness the power of blockchain as soon as possible.

Author Bio

Kashyapi Prajapati has been involved in the world of accounting software, SEO and cloud computing from a very long time and currently, she is working as a lead content writer with Cloudwalks, a QuickBooks on the cloud hosting which offers affordable QuickBooks hosting pricing. Cloud computing and SEO is what she eats and drinks.

Blockchain Based Ad Networks Represent the Future of Advertising

The crypto vertical is a highly converting arena for ad marketing networks. They heavily push crypto to their network of affiliates, taking on a variety of digital exchanges and wallets on the advertiser side of the equation.

Facebook, Twitter and Google make the advertising of crypto banners complicated, that’s if they even allow them to appear, following a recent ban. Even when they do appear, a campaign is tightly controlled to meet the platform’s requirements (of text on the banners, no buttons allowed etc.).

What better way to market crypto than via the blockchain?

There are now a variety of blockchain ad network platforms that enable marketers to advertise their crypto ads on their platforms. A decentralized approach to advertising makes complete sense. It becomes the job of the infallible blockchain, rather than the corruptible or error-prone human to verify and validate any actual deals or traffic conducted or transferred. In an industry where many people complain about ad networks honesty, traffic fraud and payouts, a new trustworthy approach is a game-changer for this arena.

Even then, of course, blockchain advertising platforms are not all created equally. Let’s take a look at the top 3.

Leading Blockchain Ad Networks

1.The AdEx platform, based on the AdEx protocol, offers secure and ethical display advertising, promising transparency unlike that which is available off the blockchain. This is a real market-leader, offering real-time tracking and direct reporting to both the publisher and advertiser. The fact that this is a decentralized protocol, means AdEx combines traditional peer-to-peer technology, cryptography and blockchain to improve the experience on both the buy and sell-side and offers a more relevant approach to the traffic too. It is built with a complex system of software components that make the adverts the user sees relevant, self-learning and self-optimized to consistently deliver results for advertisers and conversions for affiliates.

2. Ad Dragon is a pioneering DeFi advertising platform. Much like AdEx, it offers a unique peer-to-peer advertising platform. Ad dragon has built a marketplace where Publishers sell their advertising services, including real estates like sponsored posts, press releases, and banner ad space. Publishers can price these campaign options as they want. Meanwhile, advertisers can select the opportunities to best promote their products or services, at the price they want. This platform is built on Ethereum.

3.Bitmedia is an ad network based on the blockchain that offers affordable ad real estate on a huge selection of publishers’ websites. Each publisher in this case is checked manually, to ensure that they offer quality publications where conversion is a real opportunity. They allow advertisers to target via different geos, device types, time spans and frequency through CPM and CPC models. Bitmedia only offers text and banner advertising at this time and publishers can receive payouts both on and off-ramp.

In all for all of these platforms, the fact that the middleman is taken out of the equation means greater revenue for the publishers and lower costs for the advertisers. A truly solid approach to advertising for our time.

Image source: Media

Thailand Tightens Crypto Advertising Rules after Crypto Zipmex Bankrupted

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Thailand’s Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Thursday that it has tightened cryptocurrency firms’ advertising rules.

In an emailed statement sent on Thursday, the SEC told various crypto-related companies operating in the country that ads for digital assets must include clear and visible warnings about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies.

The SEC tightened rules after discovering that some ads contain no warnings about crypto risks while other promotions feature only positive information.

The regulator’s details of the tighter crypto advertising regulations include:

· Advertisements must not feature false, misleading or exaggerated claims

· Warnings of risks must be clear and easy to notice

· The ads must feature balanced views, mentioning both positive and negative factors

· And crypto firms must limit advertising to official channels like their websites

Recently, the authorities announced their plans to provide more protections for retail investors.

The enforcement of the new advertising rules by the SEC comes after Zipmex, a locally licensed crypto exchange, and its regional parent company, Zipmex Pte, headquartered in Singapore, halted withdrawals in July due to a liquidity crisis after their exposure to troubled Babel Finance, and Celsius Networks went sour.

Zipmex, a crypto exchange that operates in markets such as Singapore and Thailand, halted withdrawals as the fallout from a series of defaults spread further into the industry.

The second-largest digital assets exchange in Thailand has been fined $1.92 baht by the local regulator, according to the statement published on Security and Exchange Commission, due to a failure to abide by the standards of professional ethics during the halt in July, under the Royal Decree on Digital Asset Trade 2018.

The Asian platform encountered financial difficulties stemming from dealings with troubled crypto lending firms Babel Finance and Celsius Network Ltd.

Zipmex ran into financial troubles due to its $48 million exposure to Babel and $5 million with Celsius.

Efforts to Improve Consumer Protection

The latest move by Thailand makes it join countries such as the U.K. and Singapore in seeking to protect retail investors in the wake of a $2 trillion selloff in digital asset markets.

In January, the U.K. government strengthened cryptocurrency ads’ rules to bring them in line with other financial assets.

The U.K. financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said the rules would increase consumer protection and also encourage innovation.

In March last year, The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned what it termed a “socially irresponsible” Bitcoin ad and sent warnings to a group of crypto firms about crypto promotions.

In January this year, the regulator banned two ads by Crypto.com, stating that the firm was encouraging people to purchase Bitcoin with credit cards.

Meanwhile, in January, Singapore’s financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, restricted digital asset players from promoting crypto services in public spaces, leading to the removal of advertisements in MRT stations and the dismantling of Bitcoin ATMs.

The regulator is now considering further measures to discourage retail investors from accessing crypto.

Crypto Firms Spent Over $3B on Sports Ads, Research Shows

Crypto firms are eyeing this sector to harness a new generation of investors, according to a study by Safe Trade Binary Options.

The financial information website revealed that crypto firms have used more than $3 billion in 2022 on global sports advertising to spark awareness among Generation Z and millennials, who are deemed lucrative and tech-savvy.

Saqib Iqbal, a Safe Trade Binary Options analyst, stated:

“For many years, non-crypto businesses such as Red Bull and Coca-Cola have targeted young people through their sports team affiliations. Crypto firms have observed this and are beginning to adopt a similar approach in order to broaden their appeal and bring in a new, more tech savvy generation of investors.”

Crypto firms have realized that sports businesses are a significant outlet for high-profile marketing collaborations, major sponsorship deals, and spending. Iqbal noted:

“The largest partnership so far is Crypto.com’s $700 million deal for the naming rights to the Los Angeles arena, which was formerly known as the Staples Center.”

The crypto sector’s spending on Super Bowl 2022 advertisements surpassed those of alcohol, airlines, quick-service restaurants, and wine firms combined, according to data by sponsorship consulting firm IEG.

For instance, crypto exchange Coinbase spent a whopping $14 million on a minute-long Super Bowl ad, but it raked in the dividends because traffic reached historic highs. The Coinbase app jumped to the second spot from the 186th position on the Apple store, Blockchain.News reported.

Iqbal pointed out:

“2022 has really been a turning point for Crypto marketing and we’re seeing many brands seriously ramping up their sports advertising.”

Meanwhile, Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, noted that cryptocurrencies were part of modern technology that could not be ignored, given that 80% of racing teams in the 2022 Formula 1 (F1) grid featured at least one crypto sponsor.

Google Struggles with Ad Revenue as Crypto Firms Reduce Spending

Alphabet said that reduced advertising spending by crypto companies has undermined Google’s revenue growth during the third quarter of 2022.

The ongoing crypto winter has brought a slowdown in ad spending, as the overall market sentiment has turned negative since the beginning of 2022. Many companies have gone bankrupt, such as Celsius Network, and other crypto companies have become hesitant to invest during this market downturn period.

According to Google’s chief business officer Philipp Schindler, other financial firms have also become hesitant in spending on ads.

“In the third quarter, we did see a pullback in spend by some advertisers in certain areas in search,” Schindler said. “For example, in financial services, we saw a pullback in the insurance, loan, mortgage, and crypto subcategories.”

According to Alphabet’s third-quarter earnings call, Google saw a 6% slowdown in revenue growth from 41% a year earlier. Besides the one quarter at the beginning of the pandemic, this result was the weakest for any period since 2013.

CEO Sundar Pichai stated that the “challenging macro climate” has affected Google’s ad business.

However, Schindler did not specify how ad pullback from crypto companies has affected Google’s revenue.

But the overall drawback of investors from the crypto industry is the plausible reason. As the crypto industry struggles, many investors are fleeing from risky assets and selling out digital coins and related stocks.

Popular digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have both lost about 60% of their value in 2022. While popular crypto exchange Coinbase is down by 70%.

Google, however, believes that the ongoing crypto winter is a short-term crisis and opportunities for growth shall rise again in the future.

In early October, Google teamed up with Coinbase to allow some of its clients to pay for cloud services using cryptocurrencies.

The strategic partnership also seeks to cater for the needs of the growing Web3 ecosystem. For instance, developers will have the chance to reliably and instantly operate Web3 networks, eliminating the need for complex and expensive infrastructure.

The collaboration will also see Google Cloud serve as Coinbase’s strategic cloud provider to boost enhanced exchange and data services. Per the report: “Coinbase will use Google Cloud’s powerful compute platform to process blockchain data at scale and enhance the global reach of its crypto services by leveraging Google’s premium fibre-optic network.”

Furthermore, Coinbase’s clients will leverage Google Cloud’s data and analytics technologies for machine learning-driven crypto insights.

Google set the ball rolling in Web3 after it assembled a team to create services for developers earlier this year.