Basic Attention Token (BAT) is a utility token that can be used as a unit of account between advertisers, publishers, and users on the BAT platform (a blockchain-based digital advertising and services platform). According to the website, the Basic Attention Token will “be utilized to directly measure, exchange, and verify attention.”

An essential element of the BAT ecosystem is Brave, an open-source, privacy-centered browser that blocks ads and trackers by default. If a user wants to earn BAT, they can change their settings to make ads viewable. Advertisers buy ads with BAT tokens, which are then dispersed to publishers (for hosting ads) and browser users (for viewing ads).

Brave uses blockchain technology to anonymously monitor user attention so that users and publishers can be compensated accordingly with BAT. Token holders will be able to use BAT for premium content or services on the BAT platform or tip them to publishers of their choice. The ambitious goal of BAT is to rid the internet of the current online advertising system (along with the middlemen and trackers) and transform digital advertising so that users maintain their privacy, advertisers achieve higher ROI, and publishers receive more revenue.

For publishers who want access to their BAT tips, they must first be verified. By signing up as a verified Brave publisher, content creators can obtain their tokens and even exchange them to a currency of their choice. At the time of this writing, there are over 28,000 verified Brave publishers which include The Guardian, Archive.org, the Washington Post, SourceForge, Nomics.com, and many others.

Brave Software, the company that created BAT, was founded in 2015 by Brendan Eich (CEO) and Brian Bondy (CTO). Before Brave, Eich created JavaScript and co-founded Mozilla while Bondy spent time at Mozilla and Khan Academy as a senior software engineer.

On May 31st, 2017, BAT held an ICO and raised $35 million in less than 1 minute. 1 billion BAT tokens were sold while an additional 500 million were retained by the company, for a total of 1.5 billion tokens.

The BAT project is backed by numerous investors including Founders Fund, Foundation Capital, Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, DCG, and many others.

Brave Software is headquartered in San Francisco.