By Charles Lee Mathews. Blockchain technology promises to restore trust in digital advertising by making every transaction transparent and verifiable. But despite the scale of ad fraud losses, the industry can’t agree on how, or whether, to actually use it.
Marketers are losing money to ad fraud at a record rate. Research from Spider Labs reveals that global losses are expected to climb to $41.4 billion this year, up from $37.7 billion in 2024. Blockchain is being hailed as a possible solution, but several barriers stand in the way.
“Blockchain has real potential to bring more transparency to programmatic advertising, but it’s not a magic fix,” says Justin Lester, founder and group CEO of Ruby Digital. “Because it’s decentralised, every transaction can be tracked and verified, which makes it much harder for fraud to happen.”
“Blockchain’s potential to create transparent and transactional records is technically sound but can be practically complex. In South Africa’s fragmented digital advertising ecosystem, an immutable ledger could eliminate opacity in the supply chain while recording every impression, click, and payment across intermediaries. The promise hinges on comprehensive adoption. A partial implementation where only some players participate creates new friction points rather than solving trust issues,” says Catherine Jenkin, a senior editor at Coin Telegraph and head of content development at Bulldog Content Development Studio.
Fraud erodes trust
Ad fraud continues to undermine confidence in marketing. This year, digital advertisers are facing record levels of deception through increasingly sophisticated schemes. Spider Labs reports that the impact is felt most acutely across programmatic, mobile and connected-TV channels. These fraud tactics quietly drain budgets, distort analytics, and erode campaign performance, leaving marketers questioning how much of their spend reaches real audiences.
‘’Blockchain has strong potential to serve as a ‘trust layer’ for audience measurement, particularly in South Africa, by creating transparent, verifiable, and auditable records. It is most effective when integrated thoughtfully with existing systems rather than replacing them entirely,’ explains Yande Nomvete, the Africa operations manager for Binance.
“While blockchain cannot solve all challenges, such as device-level fraud or adoption costs, combining it with verification tools, hybrid reporting, and industry collaboration can significantly improve on legacy panels and digital reporting systems, fostering greater confidence and trust in digital advertising metrics,” Nomvete explains.
It takes a community
So, what’s holding blockchain adoption back, and how can the industry fix it? “The main challenges are cost, complexity, and the lack of common standards. When I first started exploring blockchain in advertising, I quickly saw that while it can solve big problems, it’s not easy or cheap to set up,” says Lester.
“Other industries, like supply chain management, have overcome these issues by working together. If agencies, publishers, and verification firms in South Africa pool their resources and agree on shared platforms, it could make blockchain adoption much faster and more affordable. It’s less about one company owning the solution, and more about the industry agreeing to move forward together,” Lester notes.
For South Africa to benefit from and combat ad fraud using blockchain technology, agencies, publishers, and tech partners need to work together on shared systems and standards, he adds. “The technology is ready, but the collaboration isn’t there yet, so adoption will probably take time,” he says.
Common standards and protocols
One of blockchain’s promises is creating a unified system for tracking and verifying ad transactions. But, as Nomvete points out, South Africa’s digital advertising ecosystem operates on a patchwork of incompatible technologies, making integration challenging.
“Interoperability across platforms: Publishers, agencies, and verification firms often use proprietary systems. Without standardised protocols, integrating blockchain across these varied platforms can be complex and resource-intensive,” says Nomvete.
“Blockchain’s value increases when multiple stakeholders participate. Despite these limitations, blockchain technology has the potential to be a catalyst for positive change in South Africa,” Nomvete notes, adding: “Trust is built on transparency and consistent performance. Thoughtful frameworks protect users, foster trust, and encourage innovation.”
“Publishers may fear blockchain transparency might expose their own supply chain markups. The path forward requires consortium-driven pilot programmes (perhaps led by an organisation like the IAB South Africa) and collaboration across sectors and disciplines, not just within the advertising industry,” Jenkins says.
“Interoperability is the existential challenge. The Big Tech names have little to no incentive to expose their measurement methodologies to anyone, much less a blockchain programme. Standardisation faces the classic coordination problem: everyone wants standards that favour their existing infrastructure,” Jenkin states.
The troubling trust deficit
In a world where every click is questioned and every impression contested, blockchain’s ledger-like transparency could become digital advertising’s most powerful currency: trust. And the industry faces a massive trust deficit that shows no signs of closing without intervention. Yet despite the scale of the problem and the available technology, meaningful change remains elusive.
The solution may ultimately rest not with the platforms or agencies, but with advertisers themselves. Until clients demand verifiable transparency and refuse to tolerate opaque supply chains, the industry has little incentive to embrace the disruptive change blockchain represents.
The technology exists. The question is whether marketers have the collective will to insist on using it. And whether they’re prepared to walk away from platforms that just won’t comply.
Charles Lee Mathews is a senior editor to MarkLives MEDIA and a senior writer to MarkLives.com, as well as co-founder of The Writers, a writing consultancy.
