If usefulness is the key to massively wider adoption of the blockchain and tokens, then Brave and its Basic Attention Token (BAT) are one of the most intriguing utility stories on the Uphold platform. Increasingly Uphold members seem to agree: payments of BAT to publishers and others into BAT wallets on Uphold accounted for 13.4% of ALL transactions over the last year (including all currencies). That is more BAT to BAT than USD to USD and less than 1% behind bitcoin to bitcoin.

So what’s Brave/BAT all about?

Brave aims to improve the efficiency of online advertising and de-clutter the web for users by blocking trackers and invasive advertising (with by-products that include lower CPU consumption and search, loading and navigation speeds claimed to be up to eight times faster than Chrome or Safari on mobile!).1

Brave’s open source browser rewards users’ attention to content and a new kind of online advertising. Privacy-respecting Brave Ads are anonymously matched with customer interests and users can opt-in to see those relevant to them. Users are rewarded in Ethereum-based BAT tokens for any ads they opt to see in Brave Rewards, and can in turn donate them to their favorite publishers and creators. In the future, tokens will be used to pay for premium content or services on the Brave platform or redeemed for real-life rewards such as gift cards or hotel stays.

Advertisers achieve better targeting, brand safety, direct connections with consumers and confidence that every advertising dollar spent on the ad platform is putting their brands in front of people who want to see the advertising. Later this year, publishers, paid in BAT, will receive the lion’s share of advertising revenue from Brave’s publisher-integrated ads. Soon, BAT will also be used by publishers (whether of a blog, news, video or music) to charge for premium content or services.

Newsflow and adoption evidence Brave’s utility

Brave recently announced that it has over 5.5 million monthly active users. According to AppBrain, Brave’s Android browser has now been downloaded 20 million times (marking significant adoption for a blockchain product and putting the app in the top 1% of all Android downloads).2

Several major news organisations are already on board (Dow Jones Media Group, Cheddar, and Townsquare Media have partnerships with Brave, and there are over 33,000 verified publishers on the BAT platform, including the Washington Post and the Guardian). Brave has recently announced several tie ups which will accelerate adoption of the browser; and expectations of more to come have been creating a growing buzz around BAT. For example:

TAP Network, a blockchain-based consumer purchase rewards platform, is partnering with Brave to allow users to redeem BAT across 250,000+ brand partners in the TAP Network ecosystem. Holders of the token will soon be able to redeem it for rewards which can later be exchanged for goods and services. To quote OogieFrenchieBoogie, a Redditor, on the implications of this partnership, ‘Once this is live, you will earn BAT by browsing the web using the Brave browser, and you will pay your hotel room, train ticket or restaurant bill from the TAP network with the BAT acquired by your web browsing activities. That’s like the /r/beermoney dream.’3 HTC announced in December 2018 that it has selected Brave’s private web browser as one of the browser options for surfing the net on its recently launched Exodus 1 smartphone (designed as a native blockchain mobile that works securely with cryptocurrency and dApps).4 AdLedger. Also in December last year Brave announced that it has joined this non-profit research and development consortium that aims to drive long-term change in the online advertising industry. AdLedger’s goal is to educate partners and advertisers on the benefits of blockchain and to develop the technical standards that will create the change which the industry needs. The consortium comprises more than fifty leading advertisers, agencies, publishers, and technology providers (such as Publicis, Omnicom, IPG Reprise Digital, GroupM, MadHive, Coindesk, Meredith, TEGNA, and IBM).5

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/7fh8wi/brave_loads_major_news_sites_2_to_8_times_faster/

2. https://www.appbrain.com/app/brave-browser%3A-fast-adblocker/com.brave.browser

3. March 2nd 2019, https://ambcrypto.com/basic-attention-token-bat-shoots-up-by-over-11-in-the-wake-of-adoption/

4. https://www.cnet.com/news/brave-is-default-browser-on-obscure-htc-crypto-phone/

5. https://brave.com/brave-software-joins-adledger/