Basic Attention Token is a decentralized, open source and efficient blockchain-based digital advertising platform.

Part one of the platform is the Brave browser, which is a fast, open source, privacy-focused browser that blocks ads and trackers, and contains a ledger system that anonymously measures user attention aggregate to accurately to reward publishers.

It all runs on the BAT token. I last wrote about the token and ICO in [June 2017](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@g-dubs/exploring-tokens-the-basic-attention-token-bat), when BAT raised $35 million in just 30 seconds, a record at the time.

Today, I’ll dig into Basic Attention Token and the Brave browser.

<center> https://s14.postimg.org/egb7sl1r5/BAT881.png </center> 

The man behind Brave and BAT is Brendan Eich. His resume includes CEO of Mozilla, developer of the Firefox browser and the creator of JavaScript. He did a presentation not too long ago about Brave and BAT at Facebook, which you can check out [here](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@g-dubs/brendan-eich-of-brave-browser-and-the-basic-attention-token-bat-presents-at-facebook).

BAT aims to help some of the problems with digital advertising, which according to BAT a is overrun by middlemen, trackers and fraud.

The Brave browser automatically blocks ads and tracks that violate your privacy and cost you time and money. Per Brave it’s 2x faster than Chrome and Safari on desktop and up to 8x faster on mobile. Plus you can save on data charges, avoid infections, and protect your privacy.

In the ecosystem, advertisers will give publisher BATs based on the measured attention of users. Users will also receive BATs for participating. The utility of the token is based on user attention, which simply means a person’s focused mental engagement. You can see how it works in the graphic below.

<center> https://s14.postimg.org/70by6slrl/BAT882.png </center>

The Brave browser has actually been around since June 2016. Since then and after the token sale Brave launched on the BAT platform, it added a BAT wallet, and also added Brave Payments, which can be used to reward YouTube creators.

To promote the platform Brave announced a [$1 million BAT giveaway](https://medium.com/@AttentionToken/brave-announces-1-million-crypto-token-giveaway-55414541e63c) in mid-January. That lasted a week so Brave [double-upped](https://medium.com/@AttentionToken/brave-verified-publishers-double-in-one-week-with-ongoing-1-million-crypto-token-giveaway-887df451c9d0) the promotion. I’m not sure if any is left.

What’s cool is that Brave now has over 2,000 verified websites and over 6,000 verified YouTube creators.

In the next installment, using the Brave browser.

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