What is BAT?
The BAT Token, otherwise known as Basic Attention Token is a niche ERC-20 product, aimed at those involved in digital advertising. It serves as a means of exchange between publishers, advertisers and users, enabling on-device targeting of ads, instead of relying on third parties. Not only does it include an analytics dashboard, it also offers attention measurement systems and machine learning algorithms. Coin supply is limited 1.5 billion, set by the ICO from May 31, 2017. In this BAT review you’ll find info on the pros and cons of the token, its inner workings and what you can expect from it in the future.
Advantages
The main goal for the platform is to eliminate the need for third party ad networks like Google and connect advertisers and publishers directly. Not only will the token enable better tracking and targeting of ads, it will also:
- Increase transparency of served ads
- Provide attention-based metrics
- Improve user privacy
Disadvantages
One of the major drawbacks is the necessity to use a dedicated web browser called Brave to operate with the BAT token. This could hinder adoptability in the long-term. Furthermore:
- No clear way of combating fraudulent ads
- Scalability issues
- Advertisers would be reluctant to buy into something as volatile as crypto
History and Evolution
We can trace the beginning of the BAT token back to May 31, 2017 – the ICO start date. At a price of 0.3 USD and accepting Ether, the project raised 35M USD in the first 30 seconds of the launch. The popularity of the product may be due to one of the founders being Brendan Eich – the inventor of the JavaScript language and co-founder of Mozilla and Firefox. He was joined by Yan Zhu, a Forbes 30 under 30 member and open web standards author for W3C, and Marshall Rose – inventor of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). In January 2018, in an effort to promote their Brave desktop browser wallets, the project distributed $1M USD worth of tokens to user who installed their software. In addition, several partnerships were established in 2018, most notably with the Dow Jones Media Group.
BAT’s Future
According to the official roadmap we can expect that by the end of 2018, private users testing the platform can expect to see their first revenue streams. The deelopers meanwhile will be introducing ZKP or Zero-Knowledge Proofs for completely trustless and anonymous transactions, as user privacy is a huge part of the Brave project.
BAT Blockchain
As the name suggests, the BAT is a token and thus has no blockchain of its own. It’s an ERC-20 token and uses the Ethereum blockchain but the plan is to exchange the tokens for coins and launch a mainnet of their own by January 2019. Currently, we’re on the second iteration of the Testnet network.
How to Get BAT at Exchanges
To obtain BAT tokens, you first need to buy either BTC or ETH coins and trade them at the appropriate exchanges. This process involves creating an account at the exchange and then send coins from your wallet there, in order to swap them for BAT. Below you’ll find my recommendations for where to swap your coins.
| Exchange | Buy BAT with: | Buy with Fiat Money: | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin, Ethereum , Binance Coin | – | Trade now | |
| Bitcoin | – | Trade now | |
| Ethereum | – | Trade now |
Wallets for BAT
To hold and operate with your BAT tokens, which are ERC20 based, you’ll need a compatible wallet. I can’t recommend a particular wallet, but most people store their tokens in Ledger Nano S hardware wallets or MyEtherWallet.
There’s no official wallet available, however, you can create a new address using MyEtherWallet’s official page. Seeing as it’s a web wallet, it’s compatible with all operating systems.
- To get started with MEW, check out this guide
- Perform a backup of your wallet and keep your funds safe, no matter what, using the official tutorial
- To setup the visibility of tokens in your wallet, check out this video here
Alternative Wallets
Generally, alternative wallets exist as they provide some form of increased functionality, higher security or simply, a more user-friendly interface that makes daily usage more convenient. In any case, I’ve provided you with some suggestions below.
Mobile Wallets:
Web Wallets:
News
To keep up to date with the latest news surrounding the BAT token, you can visit their official blog.