Review on Basic Attention Token by Fabrizio Zampieri
The Basic Attention Token (BAT) is the native token that is used in the Brave…
The Basic Attention Token (BAT) is the native token that is used in the Brave ecosystem.
Brave offers a privacy-focused browser that shields users away from 3rd party ads and trackers. On this browser publishers, advertisers and users are all incentivized to help each party generate the most value.
The token and Brave project is quite an interesting one as it is trying to solve some fundamental problems that exist today with digital advertising (for example, consumers are growing ever more conscious of how their data is being misused by social media companies like Facebook).
So BAT value, an ERC20 token, will grow by the following factors:
- advertisers pay Publishers in BATs to have their ads viewed by users;
- users earn BATs when they view ads. User attention is monitored on their devices and in the Brave browser using machine-learning technology;
- advertisers get better ROI as a result of a more accurate and incentive based system.
Brave browser calculates an "attention score" based on whether a page is viewed for a minimum of 25 seconds, and the total amount of time that is spent on that page. Other pieces of data (such as type of content being viewed) are included and sent to the Brave ledger system, which records and sends payments to the publisher and user based on the final attention score.
BAT token was launched in June 2017 at a price of $0.17.
Brendan Eich (the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Firefox) founded Basic Attention in 2017 and the BAT token raised an impressive $35million in just under 30 seconds during their ICO. Other important members of the team are Brian Bondy, Lead Developer, co-founded Brave (previously: Khan Academy, Mozilla, and Evernote), and Scott Locklin, Senior Engineer, Co-founded Kerf Software (Machine Learning, Forecasting & Quantitative Finance).
BAT is located in San Francisco and staff is composed of 30 employees.
Pros
- - High experienced team that has proven to be successful in creating blockchaintechnologies. - BAT aims to displace the middlemen advertisement exchanges responsible for polluting the ad experience by creating an incentive based decentralized network where publishers, advertisers and users can more effectively feed off of each other’s needs. - Braves browser provides much faster speeds as a result of its advertisement blocking features. - The browser monitors user attention in real time, while maintaining anonymity and privacy for users. - The public is increasingly becoming more aware of how ads are negatively impacting their experience. - Brave has a few competitors in the Blockchain space disrupting digital advertising.
Cons
- - BAT is a younger project and will have a rather hard route due of strong competition from Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox (collectively made up about 90% of the browser market at march 2018). BAT and Brave will have to offer much more in order to be considered a viable alternative for everyday users.
