About Alkimi ($ADS)

Alkimi is a decentralized, programmatic digital advertising exchange, and a far more efficient one compared to the traditional, centralized ad exchanges run by Google, Amazon or Facebook.

Alkimi Exchange's native asset is $ADS and is used, on the one hand, for clients to allow publishers and advertisers to gain access and benefits on the exchange. On the other hand, token holders can benefit from the fees paid by these clients in the form of $ADS node and staking rewards. 

Programmatic advertising is an automated ad buying/selling process involving an online marketplace where advertisers, agencies, platforms and publishers bid in real-time on digital ad inventory across the web (e.g. ad banners on a website or brief snippets preceding music videos posted on social media).

With Real-Time Bidding (RTB), advertisers participate in "ad auctions" as slots pop up. The largest programmatic ad exchange is currently Google AdX.

Alkimi states that its mission is to "restore the value exchange between advertisers, publishers and users" by putting an end to the exploitation of consumer data, low-quality spammy ads and exorbitant fees.

Using Alkimi, publishers and advertisers benefit from 

• significantly lower fees for more revenue and ad spend 
• transparent access to ad auction data to analyse and optimise campaigns 
• reduced carbon emissions thanks to fewer transactions and data hops needed  

Internet users can 

• expect to see fewer, but more relevant and higher-quality ads 
• participate in and benefit from Alkimi’s approach by operating a node or by staking $ADS  

Alkimi’s innovative technology results in consumers seeing fewer and better ads; advertisers reaching an engaged audience; and publishers regaining control of the means for their success – producing creative content.

When was $ADS created and how much was it worth?

Alkimi Exchange was co-founded in May 2021 by Ben Putley and Adam Chorley, both UK-based online ad industry veterans. Ben Putley led the sales team at The Fifth, News Corp’s influencer marketing agency and, per Yahoo Finance, saw firsthand how nearly half of the estimated $600 billion digital advertising industry "went to waste due to inefficient legacy advertising technologies.” Adam Chorley has over ten years of experience as a highly successful salesperson at start-ups and large legacy publishers. His previous roles included Programmatic Director at Condé Nast and Sales Director at SmartFrame Technologies. Putley and Chorley were joined in June 2021 by CTO Chandru Narayana, a seasoned information security specialist with over 20 years of experience in software development, architecture, management, and delivery of complex programs. His former clients include BT, Cisco, Virgin Media, and Vodafone. Among Alkimi's advisors, as listed on their website, are Tim O'Brien, Linden Leadbetter, Mark Woollard, Ben Jorgensen, Andrew Smith, Barry Herbst, Daniel Beard and Thomas & Emily Scovell.

A public token sale was held on Lattice Launchpad around the same time that Alkimi's ad exchange was launched in May 2021. By late August of 2021, $ADS was changing hands at about $0.88. It has been impacted by the overall market sentiment since then.

How is the price of $ADS determined?

The circulating supply of $ADS is roughly 130 million; that's out of a capped total supply of 250 million. So it's a deflationary asset connected with a growing community that is being encouraged to stake the token.

Alkimi has offered staking since late 2021 and the current pools can be found on Alkimi Labs, the portal Alkimi built for both clients and token holders. 

Why does $ADS  have value?

Alkimi's digital ad space disruption mission is just getting underway. After two years of development, the ad exchange went live in February 2023. Alkimi has already announced several partnerships with both publishers and advertisers, e.g. Powerlinks, a DSP. 

Clients using the ad exchange pay Alkimi a fee starting at 3%, with those fees being used to buy back the token to reward token holders.

Is $ADS secure?

An immutable record of all media serving and engagements is recorded on a decentralised ledger and can be seen on Alkimi ADS Explorer.

What are the main benefits of $ADS?

• Alkimi benefits all stakeholders in the advertising industry - publisher, advertisers and consumers - through fewer ads, better user experience, increased engagement and more revenue/value for ad spend.
• The benefits of the advertising exchange as a business are reflected in the value of the token due to tokenomics which require advertisers/publishers to hold $ADS for access, and for fees to be shared with stakers. 
• Using the OpenRTB standards for programmatic advertising, Alkimi Exchange said it would be able to host media exchange auctions in real-time like traditional ad exchanges, but more efficiently thanks to its underlying web3 infrastructure.
• Since Alkimi provides publishers and advertisers with access to the actual data from the auctions, both parties can optimise strategies, campaigns and revenue or ad spend. 

What do critics say about $ADS?

• The programmatic advertising landscape is complex, and Alkimi must convince advertisers and publishers to adopt new and innovative technology.  
• Several other projects, such as Verasity or AdShares, also aim to position themselves as innovation leaders in the advertising industry. Alkimi will have to prove in which way its tech is different or superior to that of its competitors.