A day after Brave Software, the development team behind Brave Browser, the client facing, privacy-focused browser, announced the launch of Brave 1.0, the Basic Attention Token (BAT) has soared to news intra-day highs, adding 6.8 percent in the last day against the green back. The token is also up against Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
The Brave 1.0 version, its developers assert, is the industry’s most advanced browser that is fast, private and represents a win-win model for all stakeholders including users who are notably disadvantaged in traditional ad models.
Brendan Eich, the CEO and Co-founder of the open source browser, said this new edition marks the end of surveillance capitalism and an era where “privacy-by-default is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have”:
“Surveillance capitalism has plagued the Web for far too long and we’ve reached a critical inflection point where privacy-by-default is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have. Users, advertisers, and publishers have finally had enough, and Brave is the answer. Brave 1.0 is the browser re-imagined, transforming the Web to put users first with a private, browser-based ads and payment platform.”
BAT is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token that is meant to streamline advertising, putting browser users at the fore, shielding them from exploitation unlike in traditional setups where the content generator is tracked and collected data auctioned to advertisers.
Based on the decentralized Ethereum blockchain, BAT powers a decentralized marketplace that connects advertisers, publishers and users all while eliminating needless cost around ad placing while monetizing user attention.
The BAT token makes it possible for users to reward their favorite content creators. As of writing, there are over eight million active users on the Brave browser, out of which 300, 000 are content creators.
Ahead of other boutique browsers, Brave is positioning itself as a leader in the space. Strategic in their drive for privacy, the open source browser, though based in Google’s Chromium, is distinguishing itself from the crowd by implanting strong privacy-centric default settings and incorporating cryptocurrency, which is appealing to the growing digital mass comprising apprehensive users cautious of leading scandal-ridden behemoths such as Facebook and Google.
In Oct 2019, Brave, through a blog post, unveiled a desktop version of their browser that allowed users to transfer BAT tokens from their wallets and convert them to any other digital asset. However, with their cooperation with UpHold, this meant users must comply and fill KYC forms in areas where UpHold has a footing.
Feature Image Courtesy of Flickr, Eljuno Kasih
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