Entrepreneurs From Saudi & UAE Harness Blockchain For Outdoor Advertising

By Dmitriy

BTC Wires: Two entrepreneurs hailing from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have announced that they are launching a newly envisioned blockchain platform for transforming the outdoor advertising space. Mohammed Khammas and Mohammed Bafaqih have come together to establish the Elo Network together. The network has been designed to allow car owners to advertise on their cars while the financial rewards are coordinated over the blockchain and the smart contract between the driver and the advertiser.

The co-founders are convinced that this brand new platform will revolutionize this field much like how cab aggregator app Uber and transportation company Careem had transformed taxi services in the area.

The aim of the new platform will be to get ahead of the traditional owners of the outdoor advertising spaces, such as people who own billboards and agencies that sell the space on them. By bypassing such middlemen, the platform will allow vehicle owners and advertisers directly to pitch and confirm possible advertising deals. Blockchain, with its myriad capabilities, is also expected to take care of all payment-related issues while making sure of better metrics on ads published.

Khamas, a co-founder, said that they will be making use of beacons with stickers in order to ensure correct placement of advertisements. Additionally, this will also enable them to provide accurate and credible data about the metrics to advertisers. His partner Bafaqih added that although this is not an entirely novel idea in itself, this platform does help to tackle issues of disputes and failure to pay, that are seen in other parts of the world with such a system. He went on to say that their platform is entirely devoid of trust, since smart contracts can allow drivers to cash out at any point for whatever work they have done till then. The platform also provides for anonymity between transactors by using zero knowledge proof encryption.

This platform can prove to be instrumental in helping drivers fund other needs of their cars like fuel, maintenance, etc. by using advertising as a source of income, alongside driving. The startup has been having talks with a few global brands as well. These brands are still testing the new service and it is expected these shall be put to use by the year-end.