Varanida

What is Varanida

Varanida, The Cleaning Lizard

Varanidae are a family of lizards (including the Komodo dragon and the crocodile monitor) that are well known for cleaning mangroves and fields. Varanida’s mission is to clean the Internet of intrusive and poorly designed advertising, while introducing a decentralized, transparent, and ethical ad network.

How It Works

Varanida is a digital ecosystem that is being designed to benefit all three stakeholders in the advertising marketplace.

The Varanida Network acts as an enabler and a neutral actor in the advertising marketplace, taking close to a 0% commission (network fees will be lower than 1%) on advertising spend. We are designing Varanida to be fair, transparent, and trusted by all parties, and most importantly, we are committed to bringing real value to all three stakeholders.

Why A Blockchain?

By its design, blockchain technology provides a unique opportunity to build more transparent, secure, and fair networks. These benefits are perfect for the advertising industry, which currently relies on too many intermediaries, an unfair reward system, and centralized data ownership. Because of the challenges of the current system, the digital advertising industry is bound to be disrupted, and Varanida is committed to leading that change.

While building Varanida, we know that blockchain technologies are still early in their development cycle, and for the most part, immature. Our prototype will be released on the Ethereum Network, which we consider the most appropriate network for testing. However, we will be forking the most suitable blockchain technology in the near future, to become the basis of Varanida’s own blockchain. Our main goal is for Varanida to run on the fastest and most scalable blockchain, and we are currently reviewing several solutions to achieve that goal. During the evaluation process, we will be communicating our test results as well as our final decision.

Why A Token?

In the prototype phase, we will create the VAD (Verified Ad), an ERC-20 token running on the Ethereum Blockchain. Later on, Varanida will release two crypto-assets (see Varanida Protocol section) that will carry the following benefits:

Compensated For Cleaning The Web: The Varanida Ad Filter

During the prototype phase, Varanida users will earn VAD tokens each time they block an ad from a centralized network. This will be done through a multi-browser compatible extension that enables users to block ads running on centralized ad networks. The list of blocked ads and advertising scripts is created using a combination of public lists like Easylist, private lists, and a crowdsourced list stored on the blockchain.

Users Own Their Data

By default, Varanida’s network will not store any user data. However, users can opt to share their data with advertisers if they want to be rewarded with additional VAD for seeing ads. If they choose to do so, their data will be encrypted, and will not be sold to third parties.

Users Are Compensated For Their Contribution To The Network

Later on, with the release of the Varanida Ad Network, users will be compensated every time they interact with an ad from one of Varanida’s verified advertisers. Interactions are defined by actions such as liking, disliking, validating, or signaling ads. Varanida will also implement several metrics to measure the quality of user attention, such as time spent and actions taken, which can be used to adjust compensation.

Tokens Have A Real Utility

The Varanida network will develop several applications where users can spend VAD tokens, such as accessing premium content on publisher sites, unlocking discounts and promotions from advertisers, or directly buying products and services with selected partners.

Users will be able to reward content creators with VAD, who will then be less dependant on direct ad revenue which is directly correlated to audience behaviors. This decorrelation will be an incentive for publishers to create better content instead of clickbait, and focus on quality over quantity. VAD tokens will also be tradable against other cryptocurrencies, and ultimately fiat currencies, on multiple cryptocurrency exchanges that will be announced later.