New to BAT? Read this Introduction to Basic Attention Token (BAT)

Welcome to r/BATProject, the official subreddit for Basic Attention Token (BAT)! This introductory guide is designed to help you gain a big picture understanding BAT: what it is, what it solves, and how. The following guide is meant to be as accessible and concise as possible. For more detailed information, please refer to the whitepaper. For a general timeline of things to come and the various release phases of BAT, please refer to the roadmap. A great resource for most inquiries is the official FAQ and website.

If you have any lingering questions or comments, feel free to post here on the subreddit, or join us on the official BAT Rocket.chat!

Note: Please note that BAT is still in development and that some of the features mentioned herein have not yet been released. This guide will be continually updated.

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What is Basic Attention Token (BAT)?

Basic Attention Token is a decentralized, transparent digital advertising platform based on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform is comprised of many components: a digital ad exchange that allows advertisers to purchase ad space and user attention, analytics dashboards, ML matching algorithms, attention measurement & reward systems, and more.

BAT ($BAT) is the ticker symbol for the Ethereum-based ERC20 utility token, utilized as the unit of account for attention within the BAT platform.

1. Advertisers will transact in $BAT to purchase advertising space and user attention;

2. Publishers and content-creators will receive ad revenue and user contributions in $BAT;

3. Users will be rewarded in $BAT for their attention (“ad revenue sharing”).

When users choose to view ads within the BAT ecosystem, they will be compensated for their attention in $BAT. For example, users will receive 70% revenue share per ad displayed through “private ad slots” (e.g., a private ad tab in the Brave browser).

How does BAT work with Brave?

Brave is an open-source, privacy-protecting, performant browser that blocks ads and trackers by default. It is available on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux.

Brave integrates the BAT platform in the following ways:

• Brave Payments. At present, users who opt into Brave Payments have a unidirectional, in-browser BAT wallet that can be used to send $BAT contributions to support publishers and content creators (e.g. YouTubers). Future updates will include a multi-directional wallet upgrade that will allow users to transfer $BAT out of the wallet. By default, Brave Payments determines a user's contribution(s) as the user browses, automatically calculating the distribution for settlement at the end of each month. Users can also pin specific totals to publishers and content creators, regardless of time spent viewing their content.

• BAT Ads. Users that opt into BAT Ads will receive a share of revenue from the advertising in the form of $BAT. Their attention will be valued. Ads from the BAT ecosystem will primarily be displayed to the user directly in private ad slots (like a private ad tab) in the form of rich push notifications, full-page HTML5 content, landing pages and more. As stated above, users will receive 70% of ad revenue for viewing ads in private ad slots. In the future, publishers will also be able to opt in and display indirect BAT Ads on their content for which they will receive 70% of ad revenue, and the user an additional 15%.

Is BAT restricted to the Brave browser?

While the Brave browser is the primary focus for the BAT platform integration roadmap, the team intends to extend BAT beyond the Brave browser. The work to extend the platform beyond the Brave browser will take place following the Apollo phase in the BAT roadmap. For more info on the potential areas for extending the BAT platform, see our Driving User Adoption and Extending the BAT Platform blog post.

What makes BAT different?

BAT represents a fundamental rethinking of the way digital ads are delivered. The current model depends on third-party tracking—with tracking pixels, scripts, cookies—and countless middlemen, as advertisements are matched and served by third-party servers. BAT eschews the need for third-party tracking and middlemen by matching and delivering ads locally, on-device, from an inventory catalog of available ads and offers.

Delivering ads this way confers many benefits. For example:

• Privacy. Users’ browsing data (e.g., browsing history) can be kept private, as all data required for ad-matching never leaves the device and third-party trackers are blocked by default.

• Improved ad matching. The browser has the full corpus of user data and intent signals, including active tabs, URL and search keyword entry data, browsing history, etc. The platform, in conjunction with the browser, can determine if a user is actually in the optimal time and place in their browsing experience for an offer.

• Better experience. Since ad matching is performed locally, users do not need to call out to external servers on every page load for tracking scripts, tracking pixels, etc. This leads to a quantifiably faster browsing experience, in addition to battery life and data usage savings. Ads will not be served in in-page slots, avoiding “banner blindness” issues and disrupting page content flow.

Learn more: Frequently asked questions (FAQs) and other info | The BAT whitepaper | BAT blog posts, which cover BAT's many benefits, project objectives and updates.

How do I purchase $BAT?

• Through BAT’s partner, Uphold.com (fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies)

• By funding one’s Brave wallet with BTC, ETH or LTC (automatic conversion to $BAT will occur in the background)

• With credit card or debit card directly through the Brave wallet

• Secondary exchanges that list $BAT

^Note: ^While ^we ^are ^aware ^that ^the ^token ^is ^currently ^being ^traded ^on ^the ^exchanges ^listed ^here, ^we ^have ^not ^encouraged ^or ^facilitated ^this ^exchange ^trading ^in ^any ^way. ^We ^have ^provided ^the ^foregoing ^information ^solely ^as ^a ^means ^of ^reducing ^the ^inquiries ^we ^receive ^directly.

BAT Token Launch Info

BAT's token launch took place on May 31st, 2017. The total supply of $BAT (1.5B tokens) was created during the token launch, of which 1B tokens were sold and the remaining 500M set aside for a user growth pool and development team pool. There are no plans for any subsequent token creation event or sale.

The proceeds from the token launch are being used for the development and growth of the platform. See this blog post for a breakdown of how the proceeds are distributed.

In addition to the token launch, the project is funded by Founders Fund, Foundation Capital, Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, DCG, Danhua Capital, and Huiyin Blockchain Venture among others.

Why should I care about BAT?

The multibillion-dollar digital advertising industry is in crisis. User privacy has become a casualty in an ever-increasing consumer-surveillance ad model that relies on tracking and profiling users. Publishers and content-creators are shutting down or retaliating with self-destructive tactics as users enable ad-blockers in response to privacy-violating trackers, irrelevant ads and malvertisements. Ad fraud is rampant throughout the system, and advertisers are struggling to find solutions that comply with new ePrivacy regulations. This is a fundamentally unsustainable state of affairs.

Basic Attention Token fixes underlying economic incentives by correctly pricing user attention, delivering on privacy compliance, user anonymity, and offering a new win-win-win digital advertising paradigm for publishers, advertisers and users. User privacy and web monetization need a better alternative to the status quo that is willing to attack the hard problems facing the web today—and doing so in a Brave way.

BAT is a brilliant solution to a systemic problem, spearheaded by the creator of JavaScript, co-founder of Mozilla and Firefox, alongside an all-star team.