Basic Attention Token(BAT)

Launched in May 2017 by Brave Software, Basic Attention Token (BAT) is a new-age blockchain-based digital advertising platform that rewards its users for their attention while giving advertisers higher returns on their ad expenditure. It aims to democratize the attention economy, by giving users the choice of viewing ads, including which ones, and then rewarding them. 

The project is the brainchild of Brendan Eich and Brian Bondy, two well-known individuals in the web browser development industry. Brendan Eich is the inventor of JavaScript and the founder of Mozilla. 

The platform is bridged across Solana and Ethereum and delivers utility to the ecosystems of both these blockchains. It works hand-in-hand with the Brave browser which was created to solve problems plaguing the digital advertising industry, by eliminating middlemen, providing higher user privacy and distributing economic value equally amongst everyone involved. It is powered by its native ERC-20 and SPL token called BAT, which functions as the Brave browser's rewarding mechanism, and is exchanged between its end-users, publishers, content creators and advertisers. BAT was launched through a record ICO (Initial Coin Offering) in 2017, that generated over $35 million within 30 seconds.

BAT has witnessed stunning results ever since its integration into Brave. As of writing, almost 60 million monthly active users, 18+ million daily active users and 1.5 million active creators accept BAT. There are more than 10 million BAT wallets in existence. Furthermore, thousands of ad campaigns have been already run by leading brands like Verizon, eToro, Crypto.com, Nexo and Ashley Homestore, using BAT. 

BAT price

BAT price stayed under $0.5 from the time of its launch in May 2017 till the end of that year. However, it started gaining some momentum in early 2018 on the back of multiple developments including a beta launch on Brave and expansion to YouTube in Oct and Nov 2017 respectively. It came close to $1 for the first time on Jan 9, 2018. However, it soon retraced to under $0.5 within a month and stayed within that range for almost 3 years. 

BAT coin’s next noteworthy push came in Feb 2021, when the broader crypto market was gearing up for that year’s first major bull run. BAT price broke out of $0.5 resistance once again, after a long time on Feb 11, 2021, rallying to a high of $1.6 on April 9, 2021. This happened sometime after Grayscale Investments announced the launch of Basic Attention Token Trust in mid-March 2021. 

However, BAT coin reserved its all-time high (ATH) for 2021’s second crypto rally, in November that year, when it broke past multiple resistance levels to record an ATH of $1.92 on Nov. 28, 2021. The credit for this also goes in part to the announcement of Brave Wallet on Nov. 16, 2021. BAT price has, however, lost a fair bit of ground since then, and receded below $0.3 in Q2, 2022, amid broader bearish market conditions.

How BAT works

Basic Attention Token works as a blockchain-based advertising platform that uses the native BAT token as a means of payment and rewards. Advertisers buy ad space from the BAT ads network and pay directly in BAT tokens, or after buying them with fiat. The ad campaigns can be run through a self-serve platform or via a managed account. Content creators and publishers receive BAT tokens as tips (from users) and/or ad revenue. The end-users on other hand earn BAT tokens by opting to view Brave Ads.

The privacy-focused Brave browser employs an on-device, local machine-learning algorithm to serve appropriate ads to users, based on their interests. These ads, which are fetched from a pool of verified advertisers, are served either on the publishers’ web pages or via system notifications. 70% of the total ad revenue is allocated as a reward for users’ attention. As BAT can exist both as an ERC-20 and SPL token, it inherits the security features of Ethereum and Solana blockchains, respectively.

While you can trade BAT on various established crypto exchanges, its main purpose is to serve as the utility token of the BAT platform.

BAT news, updates and highlights

In important BAT news, Brave integrated with the Solana blockchain in early November 2021, giving the platform’s users access to a wide range of decentralized applications running atop Solana blockchain. As a part of the collaboration, Solana committed to promoting BAT adoption amongst its userbase.

Basic Attention Token witnessed another significant development, when on Nov. 16, 2021, Brave announced the launch of Brave Wallet, a browser-native cryptocurrency wallet that could be used from within the Brave web browser, without the need of any extension.

Frequently asked questions about BAT

• Can I stake or mine BAT tokens?

No BAT tokens are non-minable as all of them were minted at the time of its ICO (Initial Coin Offering).

• Which are the most popular BAT wallets?

Brave Wallet, the native wallet of the Brave web browser, is considered the most popular BAT wallet, as of now. However, you can store your purchased BAT coins in other crypto wallets like MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Ledger and Trezor Wallet too.

• What can you do with BAT cryptocurrency?

While BAT is primarily a utility token meant to be used within the BAT ecosystem, a lot of people also use it for trading purposes on established crypto exchanges.

• How can you buy or earn BAT tokens?

You can earn BAT tokens by becoming a user or publisher in the BAT ecosystem. Other than that, it’s also possible to buy BAT from crypto exchanges using fiat currencies, or crypto coins like BTC, ETH, USDT, XRP etc.