[ Figures below may have changed. Please consult the current information.]
We recently announced that the BAT distribution will include a “user growth pool.” Today, we are providing more details about how the user pool will help drive adoption. In addition, we are offering further information on how BAT use will find application beyond digital advertising and how the platform will extend well into other “attention-based” platforms beyond the Brave browser.
An integral part of the BAT token sale is the creation of a user pool, which, we mentioned last week will consist of 10% of the token total in the event of a sell out. There are currently 100 million tokens in the user pool. These tokens will be used to incentivize users to join the BAT ecosystem. We anticipate that when users download the Brave browser they will be rewarded with up to 5 tokens. The final number will be influenced by pricing. Potentially, this could prompt as many as 50 million users to join the BAT ecosystem.
These tokens given as an incentive to download the Brave browser will be usable only within the BAT ecosystem. Any BATs not used by users for a specified amount of time (to be decided) will be returned to the pool. Once the user growth pool is exhausted, we do not plan on adding any more tokens.
Once in the system, users will be able to obtain services and gain and spend BAT in a number of different scenarios. Users will be able to use BAT in exchange for premium content from publishers. Users will also be able to donate BAT to publishers whose ads they are blocking. The Brave browser already has a donation system in beta. Publishers could also incentivize users to download their app with BAT. We are confident there are many other services and use cases that will surface as the ecosystem comes to life.
We also envision a number of ways in which the BAT will extend beyond its initial base, the Brave browser. We will build the BAT platform on top of the Brave browser, but this is just one interface for BAT. As we develop the BAT protocol, we envision developers coming up with new and novel interfaces for BAT.
Some of these could include:
- Other browser extensions: One obvious use case for the BAT is for it to be used inside other browsers through extensions. This means that the BAT ecosystem will extend out to anyone using any of the current popular browsers.
- Telegram bot: In messaging apps like Telegram, we foresee the possibility of users being paid in BAT to view one ad.
- WeChat official account: WeChat has become a robust system of bots, payments, and other solutions. We foresee the creation of different WeChat solutions integrating the BAT.
- Token and Status: The BAT also has attention-based applicability inside the Ethereum-based messaging/payment platforms such as Coinbase’s new Token app and Status app.
These apps and extensions must be fraud-resistant if they are to participate in BAT-based token flows such as private/anonymous ad revenue shares. Therefore, depending on the success of the token sale, we intend to found a non-profit trade association of attention-based apps and extensions, precisely to develop common standards and auditing requirements for endpoint software that integrates with the BAT ecosystem.
We’ll be sharing the date and time of the token sale soon, but meanwhile, to remain notified of the latest updates, please sign up for our newsletter via our homepage if you have not done so already. We welcome your feedback, so if you have any, please reach out to us on Twitter, Slack or Reddit.