Lucidity Protocol

Lucidity was established in 2017 by co-founders Sam Kim, Sam Goldberg, and Miguel Morales with the objective of introducing transparency to the digital advertising supply chain. The company, originally known as KR8OS and based in Los Angeles, developed a blockchain-based protocol to address issues like data discrepancies, ad fraud, and billing inefficiencies that plague the industry.

Sam Kim, the CEO, brought prior experience from the adtech sector, having co-founded and served as COO for Mobile Majority (now Gimbal). His background, which includes graduating from Columbia University, working at an incubator, and starting a commodities trading firm, fueled his passion for building companies that solve complex problems. Lucidity aimed to create a single, auditable source of data for all stakeholders in the advertising ecosystem. The firm was acquired by Umbrella Network, a decentralized Layer-2 oracle solution, in August 2021. Following the acquisition, Sam Kim assumed the role of CEO at Umbrella Network.

The company's core offering is a marketing analytics protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain. It functions as a shared ledger where all parties in the advertising supply chain—from advertisers to publishers—can submit their data for real-time verification. This process resolves discrepancies, mitigates fraud by preventing tactics like domain spoofing, and allows for transparent tracking of payments. For advertisers, the protocol provides a unified set of verified data to measure campaign effectiveness accurately. For publishers, it offers a way to transparently prove the value of their ad inventory. A key feature of Lucidity's technology is its use of a Layer 2 sidechain infrastructure, which enables it to process a high volume of transactions quickly and privately, a necessity for the programmatic advertising landscape. Clients could integrate the solution without significant technical changes, typically by installing a simple tracker.

Lucidity's business model focused on providing its verification services to advertisers and advertising agencies. The company secured several pilot partners and clients, including notable names like GameStop, The Richards Group, Toyota, and Samsung. A significant milestone was a pilot program with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Tech Lab, which demonstrated the protocol's ability to identify significant discrepancies in ad impressions and clicks. Prior to its acquisition, Lucidity had raised over $5 million in a strategic funding round in August 2018 from investors including 3Rodeo, Cypher Group, and Pithia.

Keywords: ad verification, blockchain advertising, digital advertising transparency, programmatic advertising, ad fraud mitigation, marketing analytics protocol, Ethereum blockchain, data discrepancy, supply chain transparency, ad campaign verification, Sam Kim, Umbrella Network, adtech, decentralized oracle, impression tracking, click verification, payment tracking, publisher verification, Layer 2 scaling, IAB Tech Lab