The Economy of Attention on Blockchain in the Brave Browser

Abstract

There is no shortage in proposed blockchain-based solutions to solve the many problems of journalism. The Brave browser, which uses the blockchain-based token BAT, is the only one that has achieved reasonably wide adoption since its launch in 2016 with its 30 million users in 2021, according to its marketing department. After five years of operation, it has several major news media in the list of its potential beneficiaries, although its factual economic contribution proves to be difficult to estimate. This chapter provides a critical evaluation of the Brave platform and outlines future perspectives of similar projects in journalism. For these purposes, we explore the reward system of the Brave browser in practical terms of digital marketing, focusing on the value that it creates for news websites, advertisers, and ordinary users. Finally, we disclose the risks already showing in the virtual economy of BAT and Brave.