Right now, there are over 1,300 cryptocurrencies on the market. And to be frank, most of them are shit. Many coins make grandiose claims to provide utility and value to platforms that fail to exist, and yet people are dumping billions of dollars in to these projects.
The Basic Attention Token ($BAT) is one of the few coins I’ve recently come across that I truly believe provides value, and this article explains why I’m bullish on BAT in 2018.
Welcome to 2018, where internet net neutrality has been repealed and every second you spend surfing the web is another dollar sign in the eyes of companies like Google and Facebook trying to sell your data to advertisers.
Digital advertising has grown out of control — at least that’s what the team at Brave believes.
Created in early 2016 by Brendan Eich (the same guy who created JavaScript and co-founded Mozilla), the Brave browser blocks all advertisements and trackers that plague the websites you visit daily, eliminating the need for any kind of ad blocking extension.
I’ve been an avid Brave user on my iPhone since early 2017 and have been enjoying a browser experience that is twice as fast while also efficient in saving me an average of 0.5GB of mobile data a month by not having to load pesky ads.
It’s a great browser, and their recent Desktop version (Mac or PC ready) is a solid competitor to Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox.
In fact, I think it might be better than any of those browsers.
According to Brave, the average mobile browser user pays as much as $23 month in data charges to download ads and trackers — that’s $276 a year.
The Basic Attention Token (BAT) is an ERC20 Token based on the Ethereum Blockchain. It’s main goal is to provide a digital ad exchange to allow advertisers the ability to purchase ad space and user “attention” — the same product that Google and Facebook provide when selling ad space.
Brave wants all advertising revenues to be based on BAT.
Advertisers will pay for ads using BAT and users will be compensated for viewing ads in BAT.
Getting paid to look at ads? Say whaaat??
What makes BAT different?
BAT represents a fundamental rethinking of the way digital ads are delivered. The current model depends on third-party tracking (tracking browsing history, cookies, and search queries) and middlemen that connect advertisers with users.
BAT removes the need for third-party tracking and middlemen by matching and delivering ads locally from an inventory catalog of available ads and offers.
Delivering ads this way has many benefits. For example:
- Privacy. Your browsing history can be kept private, as all data required for ad-matching never leaves your device.
- Improved ad matching. You choose the types of ads you want, thus making ad targeting a thing of the past.
How is Brave using BAT?
Removing ads from websites means you are removing a revenue stream for content creators who rely on advertising revenue to keep their content flowing. It’s always been a moral barrier for me when I use Brave or an ad blocking extension, because I enjoy supporting my favorite YouTube channels or Twitch streamers.
Brave takes a different approach to giving back to content creators.
In the Brave browser, content creators can register their websites and social media accounts. Users of Brave can load BAT tokens into their wallet (included in the Brave browser) and choose to give a set amount of BAT to their favorite content creators each month.
For example, I can choose to donate 10 BAT per month to be dispersed to the content creators I visit over the month. If I spend 60% of my browsing time watching Linus Tech Tips, then 60% of my 10 BAT will go to Linus. The other 40% will be divided up to the various other YouTubers and blogs I visit.
I don’t have to view any ads, yet I can still support my favorite content creators.
Brave includes a BAT wallet that allows you to choose the sites you fund each month.
My Final Thoughts
The multibillion-dollar digital advertising industry is unsustainable.
Basic Attention Token fixes underlying economic incentives by correctly pricing user attention, delivering on privacy compliance, user anonymity, and offering a disruptive digital advertising paradigm for content creators, advertisers and users.
BAT is a brilliant solution to a systemic problem, with the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Mozilla at the helm of an awesome team.
With more content creators urging their fans to use the Brave browser and provide payment with BAT, I believe there is a strong future for the Brave and BAT platforms in 2018.