Permission platform Technical Whitepaper

Abstract

Over the past decade, the Internet has become oligarchic and unfair. Dominated by big tech data monopolies, today’s digital economy is driven by an aggressive competition for the collection of individuals’ profile and behavioral data to be sold to third parties for targeted advertising. The tactics that have fueled Web 2.0 – surveillance, interruption, exploitation and monetization of personal data – are now deeply entrenched, with the centralization and cross-party use of data, without the individual’s meaningful consent, firmly built into the web’s business model.

A rising tide of strict regulations aimed at protecting consumers’ data, combined with ad blockers, click fraud, and Apple’s requirement that applications “ask permission,” are forcing major changes to the $600B digital advertising industry. Advertisers, agencies, and publishers - now majorly constrained in their ability to access and monetize consumer data - have an urgent need for new methods to reach quality audiences with intent.

Permission addresses this need by enabling global brands to obtain explicit consent and build trusted, one-to-one relationships at scale. The company has developed an innovative advertising platform, powered by the Permission Token (“ASK”), a digital asset that allows advertisers to compliantly target users and offer a fair, permissioned value exchange for the use of their data. The platform returns data ownership to individuals by enabling them to monetize and securely grant permission for sharing their data across the digital ecosystem.

A core feature of the Permission Platform is its proprietary “Opt-in Marketplace,” where brands request permission from users to access their data by offering ASK tokens as rewards. Consumers consciously opt-in to share their data, returning data ownership to individuals and enabling them to securely grant consent and monetize their information.

Instead of paying exorbitant fees to Big Tech, Permission advertisers reward users for direct access to real-time, explicitly consented data, enhancing consumer trust and engagement. This direct reward system builds loyal audiences and superior ROI. Unlike major intermediaries that retain data in walled gardens, Permission advertisers take back control of their data, allowing them to efficiently grow and maximize the value of opt-in audiences.

By enabling relationship-building through the use of tokenized rewards, Permission is providing brands with the foundation for next-generation consumer engagement and loyalty. Web2 loyalty programs are siloed, analog, coupon-based, and limited by a brand’s ability to innovate and implement new technology. Permission paves the way for marketers to launch loyalty programs powered by a digital, fungible asset, tradable with low fees and high transaction speeds on the Polygon network. In addition, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can enable brand interactions by giving users ownership and portability of their identity and data. Users can permission their data in the form of an NFT to earn from brands across applications. Or, NFTs can simply be used as a collectible or game piece to foster loyalty in a broader engagement play.

Indeed, the increasing demand for digital assets, distributed ledger applications, and decentralized financial (“DeFi”) protocols afford enormous and exciting opportunities for Permission users. We see Permission as a natural onboarding vehicle for hundreds of millions, if not billions, of mainstream consumers to the extraordinary and disruptive innovation in finance that is DeFi. Indeed, the platform that enables individuals the world over to own, leverage, and earn meaningful yield on their data will capture enormous value. Permission intends to be that platform.

As of this writing, ASK utility has been established by the growth of the Permission Platform, which has a user base of 450K+ users in its proof-of-concept phase and has been named one of the top most-held tokens on the Polygon network. While the foundational elements of the Permission Platform have been developed, future development will enable Permission to significantly grow its two-sided marketplace of users and advertisers.

As demand for consent-based advertising solutions accelerates across advertising verticals, Permission’s long-term vision is to own the “ASK Permission” category and for ASK to serve as the standard reward for data-sharing and engagement in online advertising. We envision myriad vertical use cases (e.g., e-commerce, entertainment, gaming, health and wellness, market research, etc.), as well as tokenized representations of personal data in the form of NFTs, that are built on top of Permission standards and powered by ASK.

This whitepaper details the journey forward.

The Problem

Since its inception, the Internet has launched a global tech boom and has made unprecedented access to products, services and information possible. With its growth, voluminous amounts of data appeared and so did the opportunity to use it for targeted advertising. An entire data economy emerged, heralded by big data, with those most skilled at leveraging data towering at the top. Today, more and more of our global economy runs on the free flowing of individuals’ personal data, with the biggest companies in the world having been built on its monetization.

If data is the new oil, then tactics used to mine that data – interruption, surveillance, tracking – have become the status quo. Corporate behemoths have witnessed growing resentment over their uncouth practices, and the undercurrents of revolt are growing fast. Consumers have lost trust and the demand for privacy has sparked a proliferation of regulation. Advertisers are also fed up, as they continue to waste time and money in an opaque, inefficient market.

For consumers’ part, they are exhausted by excessive advertising. Chronic interruptions have led to the biggest boycott in history. Ad Blockers (over 1 billion installed) enable 82% of Generation Z’ers and over 60% of millennials to skip or block ads, shrinking the market for ad-blocker-free engagement. Surreptitious tracking and harvesting of user data have contributed to a growing and well-deserved mistrust, largely propelled by the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, a watershed moment in the public’s understanding of big tech’s misuse of personal data.

A rising tide of user data regulation has surfaced across the globe—as exemplified by the California Consumer Privacy Act (‘CCPA”), the EU’s General Data Privacy Regulations (“GDPR”), Brazil’s LGPD, China’s PIPL, and the list goes on. Not surprisingly, these regulations have been a boon to the same powerful intermediaries that triggered their existence. “GDPR has tended to hand power to the big platforms because they have the ability to collect and process the data, entrenching the interests of the incumbent, and making it harder for smaller ad-tech companies.” Since violators face costly fines, advertisers are forced to consolidate their online ad spend in the industry’s walled gardens, whom they rely on to use their wherewithal to not run afoul of the rules.

As if compliance with regulations isn’t burdensome enough, advertisers face significant challenges in click fraud. Reportedly, 40% of digital ad traffic is the activity of bots clicking on ads. By 2025, a whopping $44B is estimated to be lost in ad revenue, making click fraud the 2nd biggest organized crime in the world. It gets worse: advertisers aren’t able to assess the authenticity of their conversions and the overall effectiveness of their campaigns, as the dominant platforms use their own analytics products, effectively grading their own homework. All of these factors have contributed to the cost of engaging with users rising dramatically (by a factor of 8) over the past two decades, with digital advertising continuing to deliver a lower ROI year after year.

In response, brands have increasingly adopted loyalty and rewards programs to boost retention and drive down rising acquisition costs. Although consumers have come to expect rewards (nearly 4B rewards accounts in the US alone), only well-capitalized companies – Starbucks, AMEX, Target, Marriott, and the like – can boast successful programs. While loyalty programs are necessary table stakes and quite effective, the overwhelming majority of businesses struggle to implement or maintain them. In fact, 58% of all loyalty accounts are dormant, which by some estimates equates to nearly $100B USD of loyalty points unclaimed each year. The primary reasons for a loyalty’s program failure are lack of liquidity, lack of uniformity, and limited shelf life, yielding little shared benefit.

Individuals are tired of being interrupted and treated like a product, and advertisers are tired of wasting their time and money on an inefficient media supply chain with poor standards. Trust has been damaged between all parties and is inhibiting engagement. Advertisers, e-commerce platforms, brands, retailers, ad agencies & users will all benefit from a transparent permission advertising model that incentivizes engagement, ensures compliance, and distributes value more equally along the journey, away from big tech’s centralization and exploitation.

The Permission Solution

Permission.io has created the infrastructure and utility token to enable a new advertising model based on consent and value exchange. Our vision is to build a dynamic, wide-reaching Web3 ecosystem that:

Transfers financial value directly to the individual currently captured by centralized platforms.
Puts individuals back in control and creates a mechanism for monetizing their data across global platforms and myriad advertising verticals.
Restores trust by providing an alternative scenario for consumers to receive information about products and services online while avoiding the interruptive, covert tactics that dominate today’s web.
Creates value for businesses by enabling them to instantly tap into permission advertising, achieving 1:1 engagement and a holistic view of users’ needs and desires in real-time. True opt-in and permissioned first-party data results in brand loyalty and increased ROI.
Offers global advertisers a trusted and independent identity verification for individuals and vendors to interact on an opt-in basis, creating transparency and eliminating ad spend waste.
Allows advertisers and ad-tech companies to overcome challenges posed by privacy regulations by 1) providing a privacy-compliant, opt-in, permissioned-based platform; and 2) enabling personal data integration that will practically and logically unite an individual’s personal data and present it, with permission, to persons or organizations that wish to interact with it.
Allows brands to instantly adopt an “out-of-box” loyalty program powered by a universal currency that provides a unified means for compensation. Instead of accumulating rewards across a multitude of fragmented programs, this unification allows the consumer to derive significantly greater value and versatility, opening up liquidity, utility, ease of use, trading and spending freedom. The exact opposite of the current global advertising and rewards industries.
Creates new financial opportunities for ecosystem participants that contribute to the growth of the network (e.g. building new technology for Permission, creating apps for new product verticals, and referring new users and businesses).
Allows developers to build empowering apps that solve pain points in the relationship between businesses and consumers and that reach new users who are seeking data ownership and compensation.
Transfers financial value stemming from data currently controlled by centralized repositories to all stakeholders in the entire ecosystem.
Promotes true sovereignty for individuals worldwide by enabling ownership and the ability to control and monetize their most precious resources: their time and data.

The Permission Platform

Permission.io and the Opt-in Marketplace

Permission.io is our core web application and the entry to the Permission Platform, designed to empower individuals by allowing them to control their personal data and monetize it in exchange for value. Users sign up, create a wallet, and opt-in to share their interests, demographics, and other relevant data with the brands they trust. By granting permission to receive ads tailored to their preferences, users earn ASK rewards. They can also integrate and monetize data from platforms like Meta, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google, creating a comprehensive ecosystem where data truly belongs to the user.

The Opt-In Marketplace: Redefining Digital Advertising

At the heart of the Permission Platform lies the Opt-in Marketplace, a revolutionary approach that aligns the value exchange between consumers and brands. It provides users the freedom to share their data voluntarily while searching for new products and services, effectively blending the strengths of search advertising with a transparent, user-centric approach to data sharing.

Search Advertising Meets User Value: Why the Opt-in Marketplace is Superior

Search advertising remains the most effective method for reaching consumers with real-time intent. Users actively searching for information, products, or services provide advertisers with invaluable insights into their current needs and desires. However, the traditional Pay-Per-Click (PPC) model has become increasingly problematic due to rising costs, reduced ad effectiveness, and growing consumer demand for privacy. The business model behind PPC does not account for user value; it relies on opaque tracking practices and invasive data collection methods that are increasingly out of sync with regulatory trends and consumer expectations.

The Opt-in Marketplace solves this problem by combining the powerful intent signals of search with a fair value exchange model. Here, users are rewarded with ASK tokens for actively choosing to share their data, ensuring they are compensated for their attention and personal information. This approach not only maintains the intent-based nature of search advertising but also offers a more equitable solution that respects privacy and builds trust.

Why Opt-in Outperforms PPC: Real Engagement and Compliance

Unlike PPC, where brands often pay for fleeting interactions or clicks, Permission’s Pay-Per-Opt-in (PPI) model enables advertisers to build meaningful connections with users who have explicitly chosen to engage. Brands receive more than just a click; they get a direct, consented opt-in from a verified, intent-driven audience, complete with rich profile data. This fosters higher engagement rates, builds long-term loyalty, and enhances Return on Investment (ROI) by targeting users with genuine interest.

How the Opt-in Marketplace Works

Users explore and discover relevant brands while searching for products and services. Brands compete by offering ASK tokens in exchange for users' data, creating a dynamic marketplace where the highest bids receive the most visibility. Users are in full control, deciding which brands to engage with and what data to share, fostering a transparent, trust-driven environment. For advertisers, this means accessing consented, high-quality data that complies with privacy regulations and represents real consumer intent.

By merging the proven success of search advertising with a model that values and rewards user participation, the Opt-in Marketplace offers a more sustainable, effective solution for brands and a fairer, more rewarding experience for consumers.

The Value of Permission Opt-ins

Unlike traditional and increasingly non-compliant opt-out mechanisms, which automatically include individuals until they actively opt out, Permission opt-ins put control directly into the hands of the consumer. This approach fosters trust by requiring explicit, informed consent for data sharing.

1. Transparency and Trust: Permission opt-ins ensure that consumers are fully aware of what data is being collected, how it will be used, and by whom. This clarity builds trust, which is essential in a world where 79% of adults express concerns about data usage by companies.

2. Consumer Empowerment: Unlike opt-out models that often rely on passive consent, Permission opt-ins provide consumers with the power to decide if and when their data is shared. With granular control, consumers can choose the specific data they are willing to share and the brands they wish to engage with, fostering a transparent and fair data exchange.

3. Enhanced Compliance and Quality Data: For advertisers, Permission opt-ins mean gaining access to high-quality, compliant data directly from consumers who have a genuine interest in their brand. Rather than relying on questionable third-party data sources, advertisers can build direct, one-to-one relationships with verified users, leading to more effective targeting and improved ROI.

4. Incentivized Engagement: By offering rewards such as discounts, loyalty points, or tokens, brands can encourage meaningful interactions. In fact, 89% of consumers are willing to share their data in exchange for such incentives. This creates a win-win scenario where consumers are rewarded for their participation, and brands gain valuable insights to optimize their marketing strategies.

In summary, the Permission opt-in approach redefines the value exchange between consumers and brands by promoting transparency, choice, and mutual benefit, making it the foundation of a new era in privacy-centric marketing.

Growing the Permission Ecosystem

The Permission Community

Permission Connect

Permission plans to scale and hasten advertiser onboarding by launching Permission Connect, a self-serve interface powered by Permission's proprietary API, whereby advertisers can unilaterally create campaigns, target audiences, and deploy their ads across Permission’s various surfaces. Advertisers will be able to autonomously purchase ASK to fund their campaigns and choose an appropriate allocation to reward users who engage with their ads and share their data. The self-serve platform will streamline and automate many operations, accelerating the protocol’s decentralization. Permission will generate revenue by charging a small transaction fee for spend through the platform.

Permission Browser Extension

Widespread demand for ASK will be further accomplished with the Permission Browser Extension. The browser extension, currently available via the Google Chrome Web Store, customizes the browser experience by enabling Permission users to earn ASK for viewing advertisements while they traverse and engage with the web as they normally do. Unlike popular browser extensions that interrupt, track, and collect personal data without user consent, Permission users are rewarded with ASK for volunteering or ”declaring” their data as they search, shop, and browse. Advertisers benefit from capturing dynamic, actionable insights from permissioned first-party data, including sites visited, clicks, time spent, social media preferences, search intent, etc., all with the expressed consent of the user. Advertisers can serve highly relevant ads – with the user’s permission – in real time, improving performance, and a more trusted, transparent relationship between brand and consumer.

Permission TV™

PermissionTV, accessed via the Permission Platform, enables users to earn for engaging with videos ranging in duration and format, including shorter, gamified ads, rewarded or opt-in value exchange ads, and brand films lasting from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours long. Users can directly monetize their data collected while engaging with video content, unlike typical platforms that sell their information to third parties. Over time, the platform will feature other opportunities for users to earn from their data while interacting with surveys, video games, premium content and more.

Permission API and Plugin

Additionally, Permission plans to develop an API and plugin for any publisher, e-commerce platform or website to gain new customers and increase their sales by incentivizing customer behavior with ASK. This will include access to a collection of features to optimize engagement, including a tiered reward system based on shared data over a period of time, redemption of ASK for discount codes, referral codes, email newsletter opt-in rewards, etc..

The ability to earn ASK from Permission across 3rd-party platforms is key to user acquisition. Visitors on sites that offer the possibility to earn ASK must create a Permission wallet and account. As such, the plugin distribution will create a network effect of attracting both advertisers and users via a novel channel that will push awareness and adoption of ASK toward becoming a global rewards program working and thriving outside of the Permission Platform.

The Decentralization Imperative

Permission believes in providing all participants in the market the possibility of becoming stakeholders in the operation of the protocol. In the future, Permission will deploy dApps defining a protocol which will enable advertisers to fund and conduct their own advertising campaigns in a decentralized fashion. They will be able to submit to the dApp the necessary ASK tokens needed to reward users for opting in and sharing data in any given campaign. Developers could also choose to build their own user interfaces to interact with the dApps and thus build their own ASK-permission platform through this decentralized protocol.

ASK token holders will be able to generate and vote on proposals to govern the underlying protocol. Examples of proposals ASK holders may vote on include adding new types of earning opportunities and yield strategies, determining what fees are charged by the protocol, and determining what incentives (e.g. ASK rewards) are offered on an ongoing basis. This will enable holders to contribute to the success of applications and products built on top of Permission’s standards. Revenues generated will directly impact ASK holders via the token’s evolving economic models as ASK-powered applications expand and are informed through the governance process.

Furthermore, Permission has incorporated a Swiss association. The mission of the Permission Association is to develop, empower and expand the Permission Platform in a decentralized, independent way. Therefore, the association assembly of Permission is able to pass resolutions on the core technology governance decisions for the Permission Platform. Users can become Members of the Permission Association and have a voice when it comes to core technology governance decisions for the Permission Platform. Permission’s goal is to further increase the level of decentralization in the future by increasing the number of Members within the Permission Association.

In this way, future development will be determined by a globally diverse population of stakeholders, including Permission.io users, Permission members, advertisers, developers and other participants that make up the Permission ecosystem.

The Long Term Vision

The Permission Platform and its core web application on Permission.io is being tested and optimized with a focus on creating simple and delightful ways for users globally to earn and spend with ASK. We are working towards a fully decentralized network that hosts content and data profiles and allows any advertiser in the world to become a permission advertiser by acquiring ASK and running campaigns. Eventually, third-party websites, mobile apps, and new APIs will be layered on top of the network, allowing for numerous other advertising verticals to be applied that broaden its reach.

Users

Permission users enjoy many benefits, the primary being that Permission.io enables users to control and monetize their data; that is, any time an advertiser within the Permission ecosystem wishes to use a user’s information to reach a user, that user is rightfully compensated. The more data a user provides via opt-in engagement, the more personal and comprehensive their “data store.” As the Permission ecosystem grows, and by virtue of the data integration and enrichment made possible by Permission QE, active users can

maximize their earning by permissioning their data across the Permission Platform, 3rd party platforms and, eventually, across all permission-based interactions spanning the web. Naturally, all transactions are recorded immutably on the blockchain.

As a consequence of GDPR, individuals are able to retrieve their data from any business that holds it, including the likes of LinkedIn, Meta, Amazon and Google. Permission.io may assist its users in retrieving their data from all such sources by ingesting and claiming it and help individuals assemble a far richer pool of their own data. Users will be encouraged to enrich their data store with more and more data, enabling them to receive better, more relevant content and thus maximize the earning power of their data. Advertisers, merchants, governments and others may ask permission to use that revocable data for various purposes, providing them with access to the richest collection of first-party data available.

User Benefits

Users that accrue certain thresholds of ASK tokens will be able to participate in exclusive brand promotions, gain access to premium content, and unlock invite-only discounts and programs, including brand loyalty programs that honor ASK in exchange for unique perks. The more data a user shares with a brand, the more potential earnings and exclusive benefits may be unlocked.

Additionally, eligible ASK holders will be able to create and submit proposals to govern the underlying protocol. Examples of community-driven proposals may include directing a certain percentage of fees associated with various campaigns to ASK holders and/or proposals that revise the rewards model (e.g., to reward larger earnings to ASK holders that stake their tokens for longer periods of time).

Eventually, users will be able to “kick back” a certain portion of their ASK to brands and charities while engaging with their ads and content, enabling users to contribute their ASK holdings to the advancement of organizations they would like to support.

The Reputation Engine

Just as the blockchain enforces immutability, provenance and security, Permission apps will create transparency, honesty, and integrity. Permission.io’s goal is to build trust by integrating into its system a sophisticated reputation score (“Permission Score”).

User Reputation

The user’s ideal behavior is to browse, search for and purchase products and services in a similar way to how they currently browse the Internet for what interests them. To be exact, we expect their online behavior not to vary significantly from the current norm.

We encourage merchants and advertisers to provide consumers with relevant product descriptions, as well as promotional and/or exclusive offers, that entitle the buyer to rewards/discounts as they move through each step of the sales funnel. In so doing, we will be able to analyze not only user responses, but also sales cycle behavior, “from search result or ad to purchase.” Using AI data analysis techniques, we will be able to identify the normal range of user patterns, both for searching for products and for the sales conversion on partner sites.

The reputation engine will analyze users’ behavior and calculate their “Permission Score” through multiple identity points and behavioral factors. Those users who try to game the system by searching for goods or services in which they have no interest, and hence never buy, will be excluded from the more rewarding opportunities by their low reputation score. Their earning power will be diminished. The natural market forces created between advertiser and advertisee by reputation scoring will support a real-time trusted equilibrium, and will discern the competitive price for giving and receiving ASK.

Building a Developer Community

We believe that a successful developer community should cultivate discussion, emphasize the mission and values, provide tools, resources, and online support, establish a clear code of conduct, and reward participation, loyalty, and success.

A Software Developer Kit (“SDK”) that includes the technical details of the Permission protocol will be made available for developers to harness their creativity and build complementary applications to existing Permission products and apps. In addition to growing our developer community vis-a-vis the building of apps on the Permission protocol, PermissionQE, a query engine that deploys Permission.io’s patented Data Algebra technology, will be the foundation for a global developer community.

Technology & IP

PermissionQE: A Query Engine Like No Other

Marshaling Personal Data

In order to maximize the value of personal data for users and advertisers, data needs to be accessible and integrated. To accomplish this goal, Permission.io has conceived and will eventually lead the development of PermissionQE, a query engine deploying innovations in Data Algebra. PermissionQE makes different data sources queryable as a whole, as a single logical data store, enabling our users to manage and control their full personal data set, including the ability to provide permission to advertisers to use it in targeting.

Part of the PermissionQE project is to create the capability to integrate user personal data that already exists on popular websites such as Meta, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google and on any other kind of site that might store personal data. The query engine makes such data accessible, versus stuck in the silos that retailers are currently funneled into by traditional ad networks. The managed integration of such data will form a rich and unique data source for advertisers to directly target Permission users in their campaigns. Advertisers would be able to leverage the most comprehensive set of personal data possible.

In devising the project, the goal was to integrate user data and give users the ability to grant or deny access to it, thus providing advertisers with a rich data resource for targeting. Users benefit from having their own personal “data store” to monetize and permission out to sellers and service providers.

The provision of a versatile personal data resource will be useful to Permission.io and its users beyond its use in targeting ads. From a security perspective it will help to validate new users as unique; fake sign-ups will not be able to link to multiple data sources. This in itself may prove to be an attractive benefit to users, and thus act as an incentive to sign up. We are providing a foundation for users to monetize their personal data from permission-based advertising. Once users have such a data resource there is no reason not to invent and add new ways for users to monetize their data, such as using their data to participate in research projects and consumer surveys. In the long run, PermissionQE can evolve into a platform for comprehensive personal data monetization.

PermissionQE is made possible by the data integration and management capabilities of Data Algebra. Before discussing the Application of Data Algebra in the PermissionQE Project, it is important to define the technology’s origin and implications.

Permission.io and Data Algebra

The Origin of Data Algebra

Permission.io Inc (previously known as Algebraix Data Corp) invented Data Algebra following a multi-year research project and a considerable amount of exhaustive testing. It is an entirely new and original field of mathematics that applies directly to data structures and definitions, data manipulation, and data storage. Once Data Algebra had been thoroughly proved to be computationally efficient in multiple environments, a comprehensive definition and explanation was made generally available with the publication of The Algebra of Data, A Foundation for the Data Economy* by Professor Gary Sherman, PhD, and Robin Bloor, PhD.

During the eight years the company spent developing data algebra it was awarded 9 registered patents, primarily relating to techniques that deliver high-performance data retrieval in multiple software contexts and which scale-out over very large data volumes.

9 Database Optimization Patents

Figure 1: Table of Database-Optimization Patents

Data Storage & Retrieval

Data Algebra translates and transforms data from one form to another, making different systems queryable and communicable in any format.

Until its development, no complete means of representing and transforming data (and metadata) existed. Data algebra technology is capable of defining and manipulating all possible data structures in any way at any known scale. Throughout the course of its development, it was applied in multiple contexts to prove its efficacy. Additionally it has been licensed by major enterprise and government agencies.

Permission.io utilizes Data Algebra IP internally to manage its data catalogs and implement Machine Learning algorithms to enhance the services provided to its users and advertisers.

Data Algebra fully represents the spectrum of personal data that Permission.io users might choose to store (or reference) including flat files, database data of every kind, tabular data, data objects, complex data relationships graphs and semantic metadata structures (ontologies).

A Natural Application for PermissionQE

Data Algebra is particularly effective at translating and transforming data from one form to another. In creating an interoperable, authenticated ID (and attaching all personal data to it) there is a clear need to maintain a dynamic map of multiple distributed sources of identity data and metadata along with other kinds of personal data and make it available (with appropriate permissions) in any form it is requested (relational database form, document database form, flat file form, triple store form, IPFS or whatever.) Data Algebra will help to achieve this.

The primary goal of the PermissionQE project is to create a query engine that efficiently spans widely distributed sources of data. The environment will empower individual users to define multiple sources of data located anywhere, and query them as a unified whole as if the disparate data sources were a single data store or database. The environment will also enable the querying of aggregations of such personal and identity data.

This is a natural Data Algebra application. Data Algebra is employed in the specification and design of the query environment. It provides a universal data definition language to reflect the structure of any data source whatsoever—whether that be tabular, JSON, XML, key-value store or any esoteric format, such as a blockchain. The algebra is used to create appropriate subqueries for each data source and to combine the results into a single answer. It is also applied to optimize the performance of similar queries and queries with common elements.

Query Acceleration

The unique capability that Data Algebra provides in respect of data and metadata management is complemented by its effectiveness in other critically important areas of data management and network performance. Specifically, it will accelerate query processing speeds significantly using its 17 proven query acceleration capabilities and it will enable the data management of data volumes far beyond the petabyte level.

Ultimately, Permission.io software may need to accommodate hundreds of millions of data records and their frequent individual usage. Data Algebra will be key to delivering acceptable performance in such an environment and ensuring the economic use of resources.

Permission.io’s 9 patents issued by the USPTO relate to the use of Data Algebra in this area of data management. Most of these techniques monitor query activity and identify opportunities for intelligent data reuse—as such, they enable the precise mathematical caching of results. They have proved effective for queries serving BI, analytics and ETL workloads, and for RDF database workloads—often accelerating performance dramatically, by one or two orders of magnitude.

Aside from query acceleration, Data Algebra IP can be used to monitor and manage all data usage within a given data environment. It can optimize data storage structures and data location in ways that will reduce access times and minimize resource usage (CPU, RAM, etc.).

Platform Infrastructure

Blockchain Technology

When conceiving the Permission Platform, we determined that developing a proprietary blockchain was essential. After extensive analysis, we chose to construct the Permission Blockchain, a protocol based on Ethereum but utilizing a Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism, driven by the need for scalability, speed, and low-cost transactions—factors beyond Ethereum's capabilities at that time.

The Permission Blockchain met our initial needs, enabling monetization opportunities and rapid user base expansion. However, after two years of building consumer-facing products and observing advancements in the blockchain space, we recognized the benefits of Layer-2 platforms, which provide faster, cheaper transactions and support Permission’s vision of a decentralized, scalable blockchain. Furthermore, innovations in decentralized finance (DeFi) and the rise of Proof of Stake blockchains prompted us to evolve beyond the Permission chain.

After careful consideration, we chose to migrate to the Polygon Network. As the leading L2 Ethereum scaling solution, Polygon offers full interoperability with Ethereum and enables faster, cheaper transactions—critical for mainstream adoption.

Migrating to Polygon offers numerous benefits, such as making ASK interoperable with most wallets, exchanges, and DeFi applications, which collectively hold over $100 billion in Total Value Locked. It also positions ASK to serve as an alternative onramp for individuals to monetize personal data and participate in DeFi, fostering financial inclusion.

This move also promotes the decentralization of ASK and enables Permission to focus on developing products that drive utility for ASK. Polygon's blockchain-agnostic approach lays the foundation for multi-chain expansion.

We believe Polygon's rise to prominence is a breakthrough in Layer-2 ubiquity, and we aim to position ourselves alongside this growing ecosystem. As part of this transition, we developed the ASK Bridge, enabling users to transfer their ASK from the Permission blockchain to Polygon and take full advantage of these benefits.

Permission.io Security

There are two aspects of security to describe here. The first is the management of keys and the second is ensuring that users are real people and that no person can acquire more than one membership of the network.

Key Management

Given that Permission.io needs to be able to support millions if not billions of users, there is a requirement for a highly scalable key management system. Users will be provided with a key (a public and private key pair) when they register. The private key they are allocated will be used for access to their wallet and the data stored in their data vault.

Permission.io will be using open source technology to manage all keys and passwords. There will be a cluster of redundant Vault Instance Masters interacting with users to provide keys for secrets. Similar key management architecture will be used for all other services involved in accessing, developing or running Permission.io. The primary function on this proposed architecture is for managing keys in a zero trust environment with zero knowledge of the stored secrets.

Identity Management

From both a security and business perspective, it is vitally important that every user is a genuine person and cannot be a software robot and that no one is able to establish more than one identity.

Permission.io will use certain data, where users provide it, to help validate a user’s Permission ID and compute their “Permission Score.” We will be able to assign a probability as to whether a given user represents a single, real-world individual and we will be able to limit a user’s capability and ability to earn until a believable set of identity data has been uploaded.

We will assist the identity validation process by using the services of third-parties, such as a third party document verification platform. Third party validation will be a “pro tem” solution that will precede and eventually merge with a formal approach to our native, authenticated ID as such technology becomes available.

Security, Manageability and Storage

Users’ permissioned data will be securely stored in a private, self-sovereign method, with the users controlling access. Users gain access to Permission.io via OIDC compatible login credentials and use of multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure that only they can access their data. Their data, under their personal control, is stored within an encrypted storage object using AES-256 encryption, in flight and at rest. When any user data is made available to advertisers and merchants for targeting, it is stripped of all identifying data and exposed only as an anonymized, aggregated data set. All data activity is logged and will eventually be auditable by the user.

No third party will ever have access to the data held in the encrypted storage object unless they are granted permission by its owner. The owner may confer specific data access items and grant such access in the context of specific personal or business interactions. The platform software is designed to involve the minimal exposure of data and to make it uneconomic for any business to attempt to aggregate such data.

As we evolve, the innovative and comprehensive IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is anticipated as an ideal file system layer for storing data. This is a good fit within our algebraic approach to metadata (alternative approaches will be catered to as needed, e.g., where data is stored on other ledgers).

Permission Token Economics

The Permission Token is designed to provide utility within the Permission Ecosystem and its applications. Individuals earn ASK for their time and data, and as applications are developed, individuals will be able to not only earn and spend ASK on the Permission Platform, they will also be able to connect with and engage other individuals through various “ask-permission-first” applications.

Token Supply

There is a hard cap of 100B ASK for the protocol. Of this 100B, 25% is allocated to ecosystem development, which includes allocations to advertisers, merchants, and publishers for brand and content engagement, and to users for signups, referrals, and other network growth incentives; 15% is allocated to the team to ensure management is aligned; 55% is allocated to purchasers and supporters who intend to participate and further the development of the Permission network; and 5% is allocated for developer incentives to build on top of the platform and for advisors to help drive adoption. Details regarding the allocations and number of tokens projected to be released into the circulating supply are frequently updated and can be found on our ASK dashboard.

Figure 2: Token Supply Planned Allocation

Permission: The Power of a Two-Sided Marketplace

As figure Figure 4 illustrates, Permission establishes and enables a true two-sided marketplace for ASK between advertisers and consumers. This creates a virtuous cycle which will propel network growth. The more first-party data that users provide to the platform, the more attractive it becomes to advertisers. The more advertisers that join and expand the scope of their campaigns and loyalty programs, the greater the potential for users to earn from their data. And when there is greater ASK earning potential, it will naturally attract more users to the platform who will share their data, feeding the cycle.

Figure 3: Permission Two-Sided Marketplace

Dynamic Incentivization Plan

Users: Attracting a large user base is critical for the success of Permission given the protocol features a two sided marketplace of users and advertisers. To achieve this, Permission leverages a proprietary model to incentivize users to sign up on the platform and share their data.

The dynamic user incentivization plan leverages a pool of tokens slated for users. The amount of tokens granted to users is dynamically adjusted based on the market capitalization of ASK (i.e., higher market capitalization results in less tokens and vice versa). Currently, at the base level, 100 tokens are granted to new users for signing up. This decreases as ASK’s market capitalization increases to adjust the dollar value of tokens granted to users to ensure the pool has enough tokens to incentivize 500M users to engage with the platform.

Based on an analysis of comparables, Permission could reach 5-25M users by the end of FY26. This is subject to numerous other factors, including attracting users and virality and usage of the platform itself.

Ambassadors: To further drive the user incentivization plan, Permission will also feature an invite-only bonus rewards program for ASK ambassadors who refer high numbers of users. Referral rewards for ambassadors are also dynamic and dependent upon market capitalization, but participating Permission Ambassadors can expect significantly higher referral rewards and other benefits.

Advertisers: Permission and loyalty products will play a pivotal role in generating demand for ASK by advertisers, and by extension the success of the platform.

By utilizing the Permission platform to reward consumers, advertisers can quickly and easily create opt-in audiences and incentivize brand loyalty. Crucially, to use the Platform, advertisers must fund their campaigns with ASK to use as a reward. Therefore, as Permission proves its value to brands and attracts more advertisers, demand for ASK will naturally grow.

ASK Buybacks And Other Utilities

Additionally, Permission may from time to time, in its sole discretion, conduct ASK buybacks using revenue generated from the various income streams that are being developed across the Permission Platform (e.g. media purchases, advertising proceeds via Permission Ads, etc.), generating consistent demand for ASK.

We also envision coupling ASK into our self-serve and marketplace products. We intend to experiment with allowing holders to stake ASK for increased revenue share. For example, if an advertiser chooses to fund their media purchases in ASK, we may allocate a percentage of that purchase to staking rewards, such that ASK holders will be able to benefit directly from protocol revenues and fees generated from Search and other products built on the Permission Platform.

While this is strictly informational and not a solicitation to purchase ASK, our goal is to better visualize and understand the demand for ASK as the number of users and advertisers on the platform grows.

Leadership

Charles Silver, Founder/CEO
Charles Silver has been building companies and creating liquidity events for shareholders for 30 years. He was an early visionary in the dot com era as founder and CEO of RealAge.com, which was amongst the first companies to use Big Data to connect individuals to advertisers on a permission basis. The company raised capital in the dot com boom, survived the crash by building a profitable business, and was sold very successfully to Hearst for over 9 figures.

As an early investor in Permission.io Inc., Charles recognized the significance of Data Algebra to the entire software field and realized important use cases for the applied math. With the growth of the blockchain and big data industries, a natural application for Data Algebra emerged. ASK and PermissionQE were born, enabling individuals all over the world to own and monetize their data.

In addition to founding Permission.io Inc., Mr. Silver is co-founder of LoveStoriesTV, the leading wedding-video platform, and is also co-founder and serves on the Board of Reality Shares (dba Blockforce Capital), an SEC registered investment adviser with five publicly traded ETFs and two cryptocurrency hedge funds.

Prior to his entrepreneurial career, Mr. Silver served for two years as a staff member for a United States Congressman.

Summary

The era of data centralization and exploitation has peaked. As blockchain and other distributed technologies mature and become a foundation of Web 3.0, the Internet economy will be driven by peer-to-peer, permission-based transactions and communications that eliminate the need and functions of central authorities and monopolistic gatekeepers.

Permission.io is perfectly poised to lead the web toward this new and equitable economy. Our core technologies, values and leadership are bringing needed change by creating a new advertising model that enables individuals to own and profit from their data and that solves pain points for businesses and advertisers. We have devoted a number of years to building technologies that would provide the right infrastructure to support the Web3 economy. We are eager to build upon our foundation and grow our community of technologists, businesses, and individuals who believe in our mission to bring evolved formats of trust and transparency to the web.

We invite you to join us on this exciting journey.

Disclaimer

Permission has incorporated a Swiss-based Association (“Permission Association”) to further decentralize the Permission ecosystem. Permission Association has contracted with Permission.io Inc., a Delaware corporation, to develop the Permission Platform. Nothing in this Whitepaper constitutes legal, financial, business or tax advice and you should consult your own legal, financial, tax or other professional advisor(s) before engaging in any activity in connection herewith.

This Permission Whitepaper is for information purposes only. Permission does not guarantee the accuracy of or the conclusions reached in this Whitepaper, and this Whitepaper is provided “as is.” The information shared in this Whitepaper is not all-encompassing or comprehensive and does not in any way intend to create or put into implicit effect any elements of a contractual relationship; and Permission and its affiliates shall have no liability for damages of any kind arising out of the use, reference to, or reliance on this Whitepaper or any of the content contained herein, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will Permission or its affiliates be liable to any person or entity for any damages, losses, liabilities, costs or expenses of any kind, whether direct or indirect, consequential, compensatory, incidental, actual, exemplary, punitive or special for the use of, reference to, or reliance on this Whitepaper or any of the content contained herein, including, without limitation, any loss of business, revenues, profits, data, use, goodwill or other intangible losses.

This Whitepaper or any other associated content does not constitute any advice to buy or sell ASK or any other security or other financial instrument and is for informational, illustration and discussion purposes only.

This Information may not be complete or final, may be estimated, based on predictions and assumptions, subject to change and does not identify all material risks. The offering of ASK has not been registered or approved under any securities, commodity, futures, financial instruments, capital markets legislation, regulation, or ordinance of any jurisdiction. This Whitepaper does not constitute an offer, solicitation, or marketing to the retail public in any jurisdiction where such offering is unlawful. Opinions, assumptions, assessments, statements or the like regarding future events are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are expressed in good faith and based upon a reasonable basis when made, but there can be no assurance that these expectations will be achieved or accomplished. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may affect actual results of the Permission Platform such as audience growth, user experience, speed of payments to the viewer of advertisements, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may”, “should”, “could”, “would”, “expect”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”. The Permission Platform and ASK have inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, many of which cannot be predicted or quantified and are beyond the control of Permission.io, Inc. or Permission Association.

Permission.io, Inc. and Permission Association do not make any representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this Whitepaper. Permission.io, Inc. and Permission Association have no obligation to update or keep current any material or projections contained in this Whitepaper. Permission.io, Inc. and Permission Association may be subject to complex and evolving laws and regulations, both foreign and domestic; the Permission Platform may not successfully develop, market and launch the Permission Platform and, even if launched the Permission Platform may not be widely adopted and may have limited users and could be subject to significant competition. Nothing contained in the Whitepaper is or may be relied upon as a promise, representation or undertaking as to the future performance of the Permission Platform or ASK.