Basic Attention Token (BAT): A Decentralized Advertising Revolution

Basic Attention Token or BAT is a digital advertising token that is built on the Ethereum blockchain to address the broken system of digital advertising. The BAT ecosystem via its token is designed to create an ad exchange marketplace--connecting advertisers, publishers, and users in a decentralized manner so that nobody is “screwing” the other.

If you haven’t accepted the reality that we are in a digital age, it’s time you do. Marketing has evolved, injecting itself in our everyday lives in ways that we almost forget and look past.

With internet browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Brave Browser, and Explorer, advertising continues to grow increasingly more difficult and sophisticated. As you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking of the annoying pop-up advertisements that flood your screen. If not, well, you are now.

In the age of digital advertising, there are three players--the User, Publisher, and Advertiser. These roles were publicly addressed and exploited before U.S. Congress when Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg had to address the biggest data scandal that would change our digital world forever--Cambridge Analytica. And what did we learn? That digital advertising is broken.

In the scandal, it’s clear that users’ privacy is violated, often without their knowledge. The problem for advertisers is the inability to effectively monetize their ad since the platform takes a good chunk of their earnings; same for publishers.

Enter BAT.

Breaking Down the Token

The BAT team envisioned its token to specifically:

1. Serve as a unit of exchange by removing the middleman;
2. Reward users, advertisers, and publishers (without harming the other);
3. Publishers can share into and receive a portion of the ad revenue; and
4. Advertisers get better ROI for their content