What Is a Basic Attention Token (BAT)?
The Basic Attention Token was created by Brendan Eich, the co-founder of Mozilla and Firefox, to improve digital advertising’s security, fairness, and efficiency with blockchain technology. BAT is the native token of Brave web browser which runs on Ethereum (ETH). You can download Brave now even though the project continues under development. As reported on Feb. 11th 2022, there are currently 54.5 million monthly active users and 16 million daily users of Brave.
As blockchain and digital currencies become more prevalent, companies are looking for ways to apply this innovative technology to older problems and issues, such as web browsing and web-based advertising.
The Basic Attention Token (BAT) is a digital currency that uses the Ethereum blockchain and the Brave web browser. The BAT token can be used to access several different advertising services on the Brave platform. It is designed to be exchanged between users, advertisers, and publishers. Its value comes from an unusual concept that is critical to advertising companies operating in the digital age: user attention.
The creators of BAT envision a future where advertising is advantageous for all parties involved: users, publishers, and advertisers. They see current trends as leaving users feeling spied on with too many ads and trackers. These ads are often malware-ridden, aggressive, and powerful which puts everyone at risk.
Because Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) charge a price for delivering content that is lower than what it costs to produce said content, legacy publishers have been experiencing a decline in advertising revenue. Furthermore, bots and malware are responsible for an yearly increasing amount of damage, on top of the crises platforms about their credibility frequently face. Lastly, advertisers do not have enough targeting methods or information available to them because these functions are monopolized by the platforms.
The creators of BATaim to improve the digital advertising experience by monitoring how users engage with online ads and storing that data on a decentralized network. Fewer ads and more personalized content will benefit users, while new revenue sources will help publishers. Advertisers can target specific consumers based on user interests, which also reduces the chance for fraud.
BAT is the rewards currency for the Brave browser, which blocks advertisements, tracking scripts, and other web annoyances. It also securely tracks user attention through blockchain technology in order to support website publishers.
When a user is focused and engaged with digital content, Brave automatically logs their attention. This means that the user’s private data and tracking information is stored only on their device, ensuring anonymity and privacy.
By Blockchain technology, digital advertisement publishers are given Basic Attention Tokens based on how much user attention their content generates. If they’re good at engaging users for a long time, they make more revenue. Also,Brave takes advantage of data from anonymous user attention to help advertisers with better targeting and less fraud in advertising campaigns.
BAT is the digital currency that makes the entire process possible. It’s value is based on attention, calculated by how long someone looks at an advertisement and how many pixels of it are in view. In the future, Brave plans to determine the worth of advertisements even more precisely than it does now, as well as monetize user action related to digital ads. Not only that, but Brave also uses machine learning algorithms to figure out what kinds of advertisements its customers might be interested in seeing.
Users of the Brave browser are rewarded in BATs, which can be used to access premium content or select services on the platform. According to the whitepaper, however, a greater share of ad revenue will go to publishers than users. It’s currently unclear what exactly constitutes premium content on the Brave network or what kinds of platform-related services will be offered and how payments for those services will work.
The developers of Brave and BAT have included multiple security features in the browser and digital token system to address fraud and privacy issues. According to the website, these include “the elimination of third-party traffic sourcing, reduction of fraud entry points using Basic Attention Metrics (BAM), auditable code as open source with attention and engagement verified through Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) protocols, rate limiting for ads and payouts, [and] user growth pool token awards distributed over time to make bot operations less desirable.”
BAT KEY FACTS
The Basic Attention Token (BAT) is a system that tracks how long users spend on websites using the Brave web browser. This information is then stored on a blockchain, which allows for transparent and secure record-keeping.
The primary aim of building on Ethereum is to share advertising revenue in an effective manner between all parties involved, such as the readers, publishers, and advertisers of online marketing ads and content.
Our goal is for readers to see ads that are more relevant to them, without giving up their right to data privacy.