I’m checking out the creator features that are part of the web browser, Brave, and one interesting feature is offering rewards by tipping using a Basic Attention Token.
Brave: a web browser, similar to Chrome, Safari, and Firefox
Basic Attention Token (BAT): a currency, somewhere between US dollars and Chipotle Rewards.
I use US dollars because I can go to any store in the nation and they choose to accept the currency, and the value is backed by the US Government.
I use Chipotle Rewards Points because Chipotle chooses to give out and accept the currency, the value is backed by Chipotle, and I don’t have to use US dollars. Given that I can use Chipotle Rewards for something that I could have instead used US dollars for, you can make a ratio of points to dollars.
Airlines are one of the best places for examples of that ratio of points to dollars, and places like The Points Guy constantly update the value of points with posts like: What are points and miles worth? April 2020 monthly valuations.
With Brave, I am both a user and a publisher with this website. I chose to add my website as a site that can receive BAT. I myself earn BAT by using Brave to surf the web. I am not yet an advertiser, but I guess I could also buy into this system and pay to have content featured to other users.
When you sign up as a Brave Creator, these are the channels they currently offer integrations for published content.
Each channel integration comes with its own referral link. I guess that can help for attribution so you will know if someone signs up from a specific source. These are the links I’ve made, and they all take you to the same place. A sign up page to download the Brave browser as a user.
Github https://brave.com/jlt690
This website https://brave.com/taz084
Twitter https://brave.com/mru185
Vimeo https://brave.com/eoy370
Twitch https://brave.com/ocr061
YouTube https://brave.com/riz455
As it turns out, I signed up today but it still appears to be pending completion. In the future, users that visit one of these channels and click the triangle in the Brave Browser will be able to send a tip.
I do think it’s interesting that BAT https://basicattentiontoken.org is managed at a different site than Brave, which you can visit from any of the links above 😀 but is essentially brave.com
I’m excited to see future competition and innovation around which browsers users use, which websites users visit, pay models for advertising online, and alternate currencies.