Basic Attention Token (BAT) is a digital currency used to compensate users, digital advertisers, and content publishers using the Brave web browser. See: https://brave.com/

BAT rewards users for their attention and pays advertisers and publishers based on the attention given to their content by the user. While this is unique in and of itself, what makes BAT even more unique is that the "middleman" is removed from the equation. Traditionally, between the user, advertiser, and publisher, there is another organization (or organizations) collecting their share of profits based on ad exchanges, user tracking functions, and data sharing.

Here, the user's privacy suffers and the advertisers and publishers receive less attention, lower conversion rates, a lower quality user experience, and less profit. Basic Attention Token was introduced to eliminate these woes -- increasing efficacy and profits of advertisers and publishers while protecting user privacy and giving users the opportunity earn rewards for their attention.

Brave Web Browser: More Security

The Brave browser is based on security. Its primary goal is to block everything that can harm a user's browsing and undermine his or her privacy. Brave allows users to browse faster by blocking trackers and ads that slow down page loads. This goes hand-in-hand with Brave's focus on making browsing safer because trackers can't infringe on user privacy. Additionally, malvertising is blocked so malware can't be installed on a computer by ads which has become a recurring problem. Furthermore, Brave automatically redirects sites to HTTPS to ensure users are always in the most secure online environment possible.

What makes Brave unique is that its ad blocking capability is built in rather than an extension or add-on. Other browsers have seemingly treated ad blocking and privacy as a lower priority whereas Brave sees it as its chief focus. As a result of this, Brave's superiority comes by killing two birds with one stone -- with the ability to positively affect the user experience by simultaneously making browsing faster and safer compared to other alternatives.

Brave and subsequently $BAT were founded by its CEO, Brendan Eich. Eich's extensive history within the tech industry has given him the experience to understand the challenges faced by all types of content users -- whether they're writing it, advertising on it, or simply consuming it. Prior to starting up Brave, Eich co-founded the Mozilla project, Mozilla Foundation, and the Mozilla Corporation and is credited as the co-founder of Firefox. In addition to this, Eich is also the creator of the JavaScript programming language. Therefore, it only makes sense that he be the leader of vision and strategy at Brave.

Eich's BAT leadership team consists of ten other individuals who bring extensive experience from other leading online organizations including Evernote, Yahoo, Khan Acadmy, and Kerf Software. Brian Bondy, BAT co-founder, is the Brave Browser Engineering Lead. Responsible for security and privacy engineering is Yan Zhu. Scott Locklin oversees BAT Smart Contracts & Economics. All-things marketing are handled by Bradley Richter, Catherine Corre, and Brian Brown who are responsible for design, communications, and go-to-market, respectively. Marshall Rose and Aubrey Keus oversee Ledger, Automation, and Wallet Systems while Brian Johnson takes care of Electron & Chromium Integrations. Luke Mulks rounds out the team as the much-needed Ad-Tech Expert.

Basic Attention Token reduces digital advertising fraud in a few different ways. First, it eliminates third-party traffic sourcing. In doing this, unsourced traffic and bots are substantially reduced. Secondly, fraud entry points are removed by BAT's Basic Attention Metrics (BAM) system. BAM measures a user's attention directly on the device being used to browse using Brave. In doing this, cross-platform discrepancies are reduced making data more reliable and less likely to be over-reported.

Being that BAT is based in the blockchain and its code is open source, there will be nowhere to hide fraud. Not only will the code be able to be audited, but so will all transactions. Furthermore, Brave plans to develop additional rules to support the integrity and transparency of its ad-tech. Remote tracking and third-party ads that depend on tracking for campaign measurements will be prohibited and blocked from all angles.

In short, Brave has ensured that bots and invalid third-party ads and traffic cannot enter their legitimate ecosystem thanks to their BAM system and other specific BAT-enabled apps. The very nature of the design of their system and the flow of information from publisher to advertiser to user without any middleman also helps eliminate fraud.

Basic Attention Token: Investment Opportunity

Brave's official whitepaper on the BAT highlights many reasons why the Basic Attention Token and blockchain-based digital advertising is needed and will be a success. The paper argues that digital advertising is broken thanks to the middlemen that have designed a system that hurts stakeholders and the user experience. The solution, according to Brave, is an open, clear ad exchange that compensates based on attention and values privacy. Hence, the BAT and its platform were developed.

White paper: https://basicattentiontoken.org/BasicAttentionTokenWhitePaper-4.pdf

Basic Attention Token is being introduced in phases: first, the launch of the Brave browser which is built specifically to block third-party ads and trackers and enable the transparency of BAT platform advertising; second, the launch of the decentralized ad exchange.

The Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for Basic Attention Token was May 31, 2017. Within 30 seconds of the offering, BAT was sold out and generated about $35 million. The quick sale can be attributed to a handful of buyers that purchased about half of the BAT available. A total of roughly 130 people were able to buy tokens, leaving many people disappointed that they were unable to purchase any. However, this hasn't diminished Eich's positive outlook for BAT and Brave. After the speedy sale, Eich expressed being pleased and having excitement over the future of company and the disruption it seeks to make on digital advertising.

More Attention on $BAT: Research & Explanations

Being a new product, platform, and concept, there are many frequently asked questions about BAT. For some, it may be unclear what Basic Attention Tokens represent. These tokens are intended for use on the BAT platform for digital advertising and services. They are not intended to be digital currency.

Though they are not digital currency, many wonder whether BATs are transferable and the answer is yes. BATs can be transferred amongst users of the platform and also between different wallets held by a single user. ERC20 compatible wallets should be used.

Many have asked how the user base will be grown. There is a pool of 300 million BAT reserved specifically for this purpose. It is anticipated that users will be incentivized to join the BAT platform in a variety of ways, including earning tokens when they initially download the Brave browser. Once in the platform, users will use their BAT to spend and earn more tokens with publishers, advertisers, and app creators, thus fostering the growth of the platform.

BAT is appealing for digital advertisers and publishers alike. Advertisers pay publishers in tokens to display ads which are selected by Brave based on data collected on the user. Ads are targeted and deliver higher click rates, therefore earning publishers more BAT and advertisers more traffic and in turn, more customers and revenue.

BAT can be purchased from many exchanges including Bittrex, BTER, Liqui, EtherDelta, and Mercatox. Additional tokens are not anticipated to be sold directly by Brave/BAT. Given the promise demonstrated by the expeditious sale of the initial billion tokens sold, buying BAT is a good investment. While the bright future of Bravo and BAT is speculative, it seems inevitable given the purpose of the platform and the success and experience of the management team.

Basic Attention Token can be used to buy advertising through Brave this fall. Until then, BAT should be stored in wallets that support ERC20 tokens.

In a time where online privacy is of increasing concern and spending on digital advertising increases year-over-year, it is no wonder Basic Attention Token has already seen success and will surely continue to. Users want to be protected online, advertisers want greater return on their investment in digital advertising, and publishers seek a better means to earn compensation and not turn their audiences off with invasive, sometimes malicious advertising. Brave and $BAT deliver what all three off these communities desire and have the leadership and interest to create a revolution in the digital advertising ecosystem.