Today I came across a news article about a new digital currency, called Adcoin. It immediately got my attention, because the news agency (RTL Nieuws) giving AdCoin’s team the stage is actually one of the biggest in the Netherlands. This is rare since news agencies do not write a lot about digital currencies and when they do, 9 out of 10 times it is Bitcoin. Below I have translated the Dutch article (July 24, 2017):
“Again a new digital currency, this time for ads”
'1500 views? That is 1.50 AdCoin, please.' The newest digital currency AdCoin must become the method to buy and sell ads. Noteworthy: the Dutch initiators hope that the coin does not increase in value a lot.
The most well-know digital currency Bitcoin has had a tense weekend: the coin was close to being split, but when that didn't happen, the value of the coin rose again.
Bitcoin's uncertainties were the motivation for a new digital currency: AdCoin. "It is our intention that this coin actually will be used in contrast with Bitcoin, which has become a coin for speculators,' says Patrick van Dijl, one of the four Dutch founders.
For the advertising market
AdCon is meant for the advertising market. Both advertisers and publishers (media, bloggers, comparison sites) should be able to pay with it.
Especially for the advertising market, this is interesting because there are so many payments in small amounts, says Jerry Donker, also a co-founder: "Suppose that you get 1 AdCoin for every 1000 views of an ad. For this kind of micro payments the transaction costs are much too high."
On top of that, the advertising market is an international market and as a result a lot of money is lost by the exchanging of valuta.
Not too much increase in value
The founders hope that the coin will truely be used for trading and not for investing. Therefore they initially try to sell a lot of coins to big companies in the advertising industry.
Van Dijl: "The currency needs to be stable. Otherwise it would hinder advertisers to pay with the coin." It is not possible to rule out speculation completely. "But for speculators we are not that interesting, they would rather go for Bitcoin or Ethereum."
As of next week everyone can buy AdCoins. 1 AdCoin will costs approximately 1 Euro.
'Proliferation'
Digital currency expert Jacob Boersma from Deloitte says it is 'commendable' that AdCoin does not desire a strong increase of the coin, but he is careful. "At this moment there is a proliferation of cryptocurrencies and it turns out to be really hard for a currency to get large scale applications off the ground."
Often, there is nothing wrong with the initiatives, but 'it might work nicely if all advertisers adopt it, but how do you start?'
Great looks and prospects
This is still a small project - there are just over 1,200 participants in the ICO - but personally I believe in it. In a short time they got significant attention, especially in the Netherlands, and it is definitely not a scam. It sounds not important, but the fact that everything looks very professional is of huge importance for me. The site looks great and does not lack information and also their white paper is detailed and includes a nice time line with future goals. CoinMarketCap listed the currency on Friday and big crypto-exchange platforms Poloniex and Bittrex are reviewing the coin for listing.
Differ from other coins
There are other coins for the advertising market, but these coin want to take over the role of Google. AdCoin, however, claims this is not their ambition. Adcoin rather want to change the method of payments, since credit card payments involve significant transaction costs.
Mining and technique
As a miner, there is still something left to mine, but be aware that they have pre-mined 70% of the total market capitalization of 100,000,000 AdCoins and the difficulty is high. The technique behind the coin is from Litecoin and they aim to implement SegWit and Lighting to improve the transaction flow.
Stabilizing
The target price for 2017 is 1$, while in the future they hope it will stabilize around 2$. I like the idea that the coin should be stable, but on the other hand if it is picked up by major advertisors, the coin will definitely attract speculators, who will boost the price.
Investing
Buying AdCoin is easy. Just go to their site and follow the steps. A nice thing is that you also have the option to pay with iDeal. By the way, until Monday 23:59 CET you get 50% off (as part of the ICO). In this case, 1 AdCoin is $0.25. Still a good return even if the coin stabilizes around $1. Be aware that it could take some time until you receive your coins in your wallet.
As you have noticed, I'm quite positive about this coin. Nevertheless, there are numerous uncertainties. As expert Boersma mentions, the idea can be great, but if no one picks it up, you're stuck. Also, it takes a lot of time for them to progress transactions. They have to improve that in the future if they want to attract large corporations. Although they want a stable coin, I'm think it is still a good investment.