Umbrella Network Acquires Digital Advertising Oracle Lucidity for ‘Tens of Millions’

Decentralized finance (DeFi) oracle Umbrella Network has acquired Lucidity, a major blockchain-based digital advertising oracle, in a bid to increase transparency in the digital advertising industry.

While the exact terms of the acquisition of Lucidity by Umbrella weren’t disclosed, a spokesperson told CoinDesk Thursday the deal was in the “tens of millions.”

Umbrella acts as a bridge between smart contracts and off-chain data feeds. The network aims to provide the most current price for smart contracts. The network also recently shifted from the Ethereum blockchain to the relatively low-cost smart contract platform Binance Smart Chain in a bid to reduce costs.

“For a long time, the advertising industry did not have access to the technology needed to combat the problematic issue of data manipulation, which causes ad fraud,” said Lucidity adviser David Moore. “Now that Lucidity is becoming a part of the Umbrella Network, we have access to the long-awaited blockchain technology that will empower the protection of our essential data.”

In Defi, oracles are third-party services that collect data off-chain (such as real-world information) and then plug them into smart contracts. The data happening off-chain is used to trigger those contracts and self-execute based on certain information, once a specific set of circumstances have been met.

Lucidity has processed more than 600 million transactions, according to a Thursday press release shared with CoinDesk. The problem Lucidity has set out to solve, it says, revolves around increasing transparency in ad spending for digital advertising. Over $30 billion in advertising spending is wasted every year, the companies claim. Specifically, Lucidity says it is attempting to solve the issue by allowing advertisers to identify and cut down on the waste involved in the advertising process.

Built on the Ethereum, Lucidity says its oracles resolve data discrepancies by targeting fraud and waste as well as enabling a transparent supply chain evaluation so advertisers know where their budget dollars end up.

With Lucidity’s integration, the Umbrella Network will be among the highest transaction volume oracles in the world, the companies said.

“Lucidity is delivering marked improvements in the performance of advertising campaigns for its current client base by taking off-chain data stored in multiple centralized databases and moving it to the blockchain securely,” said Sam Kim, a partner at Umbrella Network. “By combining its advanced analytical capabilities with Umbrella’s oracle network, we will be able to deliver unparalleled insights to marketers.”

The companies said the deal will add to Umbrella Network’s earnings beginning in the first quarter of next year.

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