In the not-so-distant future, our digital lives may no longer be tethered to our mobile devices. Instead, it's now possible to imagine a time when eyeglasses with augmented reality ( AR ) may offer an alternative for people all over the world.

In this future, what you see and what is digitally generated will be so closely aligned that you may not be able to distinguish between the two.

The very fabric of this idea is being forged by a new startup called Lucyd , a smart eyeglasses developer that's making steady progress toward launching what is known as "Lucyd Lens." These smart glasses show promise in becoming the world's first blockchain-centric glasses, with a scheduled release in Q1 of 2019.

Founded as a portfolio company of Tekcapital PLC (LON: TEK), with approximately $500,000 in seed funding, Lucyd is in essence a developer of ergonomic eyewear, utilizing the blockchain platform along with a proprietary LCD token to create and deliver AR-content experiences that are viewable through glasses.

A few years ago, Google Glass was considered the next frontier of eyewear. And other companies have tried. But over time, these experiments introduced interesting technical features but failed to achieve mass adoption.

"The few available options [for AR eyewear] have a narrow field of view and a clumsy user experience," states the Lucyd website. This is where Lucyd is strategically positioned to address this opportunity. Possessing the exclusive license to 13 advanced augmented reality patents, a new normal for this promising space is seeking to be forged by the company's team of "renowned optics experts."

Lucyd's target market is anyone seeking to access information more easily without having to look down at a phone or mobile device. The glasses sync with a smartphone, relying on it for processing power and data. Using the Lucyd Lens, one can look up from their phone and see all of their favorite apps in a smooth AR interface.

With 75 percent of the world population needing corrective lenses of some sort, Lucyd Lens has the potential to make ordinary glasses redundant.

Lucyd founder and CEO Clifford M. Gross, PhD, is an executive and ergonomics expert with decades of experience. He has founded and taken three companies public in different markets in the U.S. and the U.K., and has extensive experience creating ergonomic, user-friendly consumer products.

The company is led by a Singapore-based team that consists of world leaders in optics, AR and ergonomics. Key members of the team include co-founders Konrad Dabrowski (finance lead), Eric Cohen (app development lead) and Harrison Gross (media lead).

The Lucyd Lab AR blockchain is powered by the LCD token. This token organically drives content creation. This aligns with the company's ultimate goal of using community-driven content development to create the world's first AR-driven blockchain with mass appeal.

In a recent development, Lucyd entered into a strategic alliance with nine companies to develop AR and security software apps to power the glasses. One of these alliance partners, Alex Alanson, chief operating officer of INDE, commented:

"INDE is always happy to support dynamic industry partners in AR, and we're delighted to see Lucyd adopt their intelligent approach to smart glass development. We look forward to developing content and applications for them when they become available."

Gross asserted that in order to enter the mainstream, smart glasses will need to resemble current glasses and not goggles. As such, he said, they must incorporate prescriptions for the 75 percent of the population that requires corrective lenses and you will need to see the eyes of the user.

"They need to be lightweight, with a wide field of view to minimize eye strain and, ideally, they need to come in a wide variety of frame styles to meet individual preferences because you're wearing them on your face," said Gross. "We believe the achievement of these design goals requires a compressed lens design and that Lucyd's IP enables the incorporation of these ergonomic features."

Lucyd's token event is running from November 1, 2017, to February 28, 2018, and about $3.5 million have been raised so far. The purpose of this campaign is to both crowdfund prototype development of Lucyd Lens smart glasses as well as to initialize the Lucyd blockchain with the LCD token.

These tokens will be used to drive organic app development and user engagement. They also can be spent on AR hardware and content from Lucyd when they become available. Rewards and incentives will be offered for developing apps and content, or even for writing user reviews.

A total of 100,000,000 LCD tokens will be created, with 50 percent of those tokens available during the sale. Lucyd's fundraising goal is $10 million.

The company will sell the first 500 pairs of Lucyd Lens smart glasses exclusively to Lucyd token holders. These smart glasses can be purchased for about 5,000 LCD, which, at a token sale price of $0.25 per token, means the glasses will cost $1,250.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.