You should gain your traffic first, yeah I know milliondollarhomepage is successful site advertisement block, I think you should make your traffic crowds, and put the price at middle price, 1 btc for 1 ads space is too expensive, just for your start up.
And you can use ads packet, it's like people order 4 ads block, this packet have a low price than order 4 ads at normal price.
I agree. There should be a solid proof that the site is really attracting a good chunk of traffic and he should lower the price since 1 BTC is too much for a space on the site. I suggest start small then slowly raise the price as more traffic can be coming in or later on he can use a bidding technique.