Home AdExchanger Talks Podcast: Deal Maven Carolina Abenante Preaches Blockchain

Podcast: Deal Maven Carolina Abenante Preaches Blockchain

SHARE:

Welcome to AdExchanger Talks, a podcast focused on data-driven marketing. Subscribe here.

On the podcast this week, NYIAX founder and President Carolina Abenante talks about her career as a deal-maker and her current project: making blockchain work for the marketer.

As a practicing attorney, she sees in blockchain technology the potential to bring process improvements that will revolutionize ad transactions.

“Blockchain is all about law,” Abenante says. “Blockchain is about the immutable contract. When you’re making a ledger, you’re … trying to keep things fixed for people.

“We’ve been using ledgers in law, in every country, forever. Real estate is kept on ledger records. This is going to bring a whole new side for the supply chain. For the back-end office, this is going to be a very good cost benefit for them.”

Abenante got her start in business by facilitating telco consolidation in Europe. Later she was instrumental in helping early behavioral ad startup Phorm secure data collection deals with internet service providers, before that company was brought low by legal and privacy challenges.

Along the way she has been a frequent angel investor and adviser to startups. These days she is focused on startup NYIAX that uses technology from Nasdaq to enable buyers and sellers to trade media futures.

In this episode, Abenante describes NYIAX’s progress in bringing supply and demand partners onboard, among other topics.

She also talks about female advancement in the tech, finance and legal professions. Among those fields, she says tech has the worst track record in cultivating women’s careers.

“Tech has to do a lot better at nurturing female talent,” she says. “I see a lot of really great women in the ad tech space, but there’s not that many women that are creating their own companies and there should be more of that. Going up the food chain is great, but building your own company… is better.”

Must Read

Gamera Raises $1.6 Million To Protect The Open Web’s Media Quality

Gamera, a media quality measurement startup for publishers, announced on Tuesday it raised $1.6 million to promote its service that combines data about a site’s ad experience with data about how its ads perform.

Jamie Seltzer, global chief data and technology officer, Havas Media Network, speaks to AdExchanger at CES 2026.

CES 2026: What’s Real – And What’s BS – When It Comes To AI

Ad industry experts call out trends to watch in 2026 and separate the real AI use cases having an impact today from the AI hype they heard at CES.

New Startup Pinch AI Tackles The Growing Problem Of Ecommerce Return Scams

Fraud is eating into retail profits. A new startup called Pinch AI just launched with $5 million in funding to fight back.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters
Comic: Shopper Marketing Data

CPG Data Seller SPINS Moves Into Media With MikMak Acquisition

On Wednesday, retail and CPG data company SPINS added a new piece with its acquisition of MikMak, a click-to-buy ad tech and analytics startup that helps optimize their commerce media.

How Valvoline Shifted Marketing Gears When It Became A Pure-Play Retail Brand

Believe it or not, car oil change service company Valvoline is in the midst of a fascinating retail marketing transformation.

AdExchanger's Big Story podcast with journalistic insights on advertising, marketing and ad tech

The Big Story: Live From CES 2026

Agents, streamers and robots, oh my! Live from the C-Space campus at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas, our team breaks down the most interesting ad tech trends we saw at CES this year.