What is Basic Attention Token?

Basic Attention Token (BAT) is the cryptocurrency that supports Brave Software's blockchain-based digital advertising network for the Brave web browser. Marketers pay BAT to website publishers to gain the attention of Brave’s users.

A brief history of Basic Attention Token

Brave Software was co-founded on 28 May 2015 by CEO Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Mozilla (Firefox), and CTO Brian Bondy (formerly of Khan Academy and Mozilla).

In January 2016, Brave announced its first version, which featured built-in ad-blocking. With Brave, users' surfing data is kept private, as the browser blocks trackers and third-party cookies by default. By August 2016, the startup had secured more than US$7 million in financing from major venture companies, including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Foundation Capital, and the Digital Currency Group.

The Brave browser's tipping function initially accepted Bitcoin; however, owing to concerns about Bitcoin's scalability, the project shifted to a new cryptocurrency that could satisfy the demands of the developing Brave ecosystem. In March 2017, Brave revealed a new blockchain-based digital advertising business, employing an innovative Ethereum-based utility token called the Basic Attention Token (BAT).

In May 2017, Brave launched BAT and offered 1 billion tokens, one-third of the token’s total supply, in an initial coin offering (ICO) that generated more than US$35 million in just 30 minutes. The corporation put aside the remaining 500 million BAT token supply for a user growth pool and a development team pool. In early December 2017, the business dispersed the first round of its user growth pool rewards to new users on a first-come-first-served basis.

In November 2019, Brave unveiled Brave 1.0, which delivered features such as Brave Rewards, which supports the open web; Brave Adverts, which recompenses users for their attention; and Brave Shields, which prevent ads and trackers. In October 2021, Brave rolled out its own search engine called Brave Search. As of January 2022, Brave already has more than 50 million monthly active users (MAUs).

How Basic Attention Token works

The team at Brave has uncovered vulnerabilities in today's sophisticated ad tech, which was meant to be a more efficient marketplace. Instead, the current ad tech is itself fraught with difficulties, such as the sheer number of middlemen in the ad tech ecosystem and the prevalence of malware and privacy issues, among others.

Brave is offering BAT as the token of exchange in its secure, anonymous, opt-in advertising system, which aims to benefit users, publishers, and advertisers. Users are given stronger privacy and security when viewing advertisements, improved relevance and performance, and a share of BAT tokens in the process. Publishers benefit from improved revenue, better reporting, and less fraud. Advertisers gain customer attention at a more affordable expense, with less fraud and better attribution.

In the Brave ecosystem, advertisers will pay publishers with BAT tokens based on the measured attention of users. Users will also receive some BAT tokens for participating in this system, and they can either donate the tokens back to publishers or use them on the platform. Tokens can be managed in the Brave Wallet and exchanged via Brave Swap. This transparent system keeps user data private while delivering fewer but more relevant ads.

What is Basic Attention Token used for?

The Brave browser is associated with the BAT token. Brave Rewards is a feature enabling Brave users to donate BAT to the sites they visit. When users turn on Brave Rewards, their browser tallies the amount of time they spend on each site and distributes their monthly BAT donation across the sites they visit. People will be able to opt in to earn BAT based on their time or ‘attention’ using Brave Ads.

When someone turns Brave Ads on, their browser begins learning their preferences so as to offer them relevant ads on occasion. Brave Rewards employs an anonymous donation system, which means that no one knows which websites each user chooses to support.