What is a Basic Attention Token (BAT)? Definition from Digimagg

What Is a Basic Attention Token (BAT)?

The Basic Attention Token (BAT) was conceived by Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla and Firefox, aiming to enhance the security, fairness, and efficiency of digital advertising using blockchain technology. It serves as the native token of the Brave web browser, which operates on the Ethereum (ETH) network. Although the BAT project is ongoing, the Brave browser is already accessible for users. As of February 10, 2021, the BAT white paper was published. By May 31, 2023, the Brave browser had garnered 57.3 million monthly active users and 22.1 million daily users. As blockchain and digital currencies gain prominence, companies are exploring novel applications for this technology, including revolutionizing web browsing and online advertising.

Understanding the Basic Attention Token

Utilizing the Ethereum blockchain and the specialized Brave web browser, the Basic Attention Token (BAT) serves as a currency within the Brave platform, enabling access to various advertising services. It facilitates transactions between users, advertisers, and publishers, with a unique focus on user attention—a crucial aspect for digital advertising firms.

BAT's creators aim to revolutionize the digital advertising landscape, recognizing current trends as detrimental to users, publishers, and advertisers alike. Users face an onslaught of ads and trackers, along with increasingly aggressive malware.

Legacy publishers experience significant declines in ad revenues due to platforms like Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) driving down information prices while claiming substantial portions of advertising revenue. Additionally, the proliferation of bots and malware poses growing threats annually, leading to credibility crises for platforms. Furthermore, advertisers struggle with inadequate targeting methods and data accessibility, as platforms often control these functionalities.

BAT's developers envision leveraging user interactions with digital advertising content, recorded on a distributed ledger, to enrich the digital advertising landscape for advertisers, publishers, and users. This approach aims to reduce ad frequency for users while delivering more personalized content. Publishers stand to gain additional revenue streams, while advertisers can refine targeting strategies based on documented user preferences and interests, thus enhancing efficiency in fraud prevention.

Brave and privacy centered browsing

BAT serves as the native token for the privacy-focused Brave browser, which aims to block trackers, cookies, and malware. Through blockchain technology, user attention is anonymously tracked to reward publishers. Brave ensures user privacy by storing data locally on the user's device. Publishers receive rewards in Basic Attention Token (BAT) based on user attention to their content, while advertisers benefit from improved targeting and reduced fraud. BAT is the digital currency powering this ecosystem, with its value tied to user attention metrics. Brave plans to expand its monetization of user actions related to digital ads in the future, leveraging machine learning to match ads with user interests.

Brave browser users receive BAT rewards for their engagement, which can be used for platform services and premium content. However, publishers receive a larger share of ad revenue, as outlined in the BAT whitepaper. The specific premium content and platform services, as well as the payment system for these services, remain unclear.

To address concerns about fraud and privacy, Brave and BAT developers have implemented various security measures. These include eliminating third-party traffic sourcing, reducing fraud with the Basic Attention Metrics (BAM) system, and ensuring auditable code as open source. User engagement is verified using Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) protocols, and ads and payouts are rate-limited. Additionally, token awards from the user growth pool are distributed gradually to deter bot operations.

BAT token value

The Basic Attention Token's initial launch aimed to raise $24 million, as stated in its white paper. By late November 2021, the token reached its peak trading value of approximately $1.76. As of May 31, 2023, it had a circulating supply of 1.50 billion BAT out of a total supply of 1.50 billion BAT.

The exchange rate for BAT is fixed at 6,400 BAT per ETH, meaning that fluctuations in the price of Ethereum directly impact the value of BAT. As of May 31, 2023, the exchange rate stood at 8,686 BAT per ETH.

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