When a token is in its infancy, as is Brave browser's Basic Attention Token, the future can seem foreboding. BAT's recent listing on Coinbase, the world's leading online cryptocurrency exchange, was a pretty big deal and the results were debatable. Though some speculators predicted meteoric gains (and there were gains at first, around 20%) it was followed by some deflation. With the listing out of the way, hopefully, BAT has room to recoil and rebound as word spreads about Brave's revolutionary new advertising model and Brave's numbers continue to rise. What drives the value of BAT is obviously Brave, and what drives the value of the Brave brand is that although they are a private company, they do not seek or value user's private data or information. This fundamental strain of integrity trickles through the company into the browser experience, providing an integral element of structure, substance, and integrity to BAT other tokens and altcoins lack.
Once all this becomes clear, one can inevitably experience the pain that comes with the early adoption of a progressive model. There are currently around 5 million Brave users, a significant number but still a relative minority when compared to Chrome, Firefox, and Explorer. Understanding the interactivity that drives the bleeding edge components of Brave means knowing that a mass user migration from these established browsers to Brave would likely provide massive gains to BAT, with everyone involved reaping the rewards. Nevertheless, it is exciting to feel in on the ground floor of a movement. And that's what Brave and BAT are at heart, a reaction against the increasingly invasive advertising status quo and a movement towards something better.
As with all movements that challenge the status quo, there is going to be resistance. Google seems to have already reacted, but the power of Open Source allows Brave to simply fork any Big G's attempts to disable uBlock origin, effectively sidestepping what proves to be a vulnerable point in many Chromium based (as Brave is) browsers. Make no mistake about it, Google is not friendly to industry disruptors, and feeling like you're on the little guy's team can feel more than a little daunting, especially with cryptocurrency holdings involved. However, when you're fighting for something worthwhile, an underlying sense of hope will always shine through, and the Brave/BAT project is nothing if not a truly worthwhile cause. BAT is a token still in its infancy stage, which denotes all sorts of growing pains and preliminary jitters. But when the heart of your movement is in the best interest of ordinary people, for example a senior citizen who could easily fall victim to a malware scam, there's an intangible element of momentum that can't be quantified in anything other than gains.
