How MAT improves upon BAT token model
MAT or Masmic Attention Token is the digital utility token native to Masmic network and BAT or Basic Attention Token is the digital utility token within Brave browser ecosystem.
Comparison:
i) Both BAT and MAT tokenizes online attention of people across the world and allows anyone to buy, sell or trade this tokenized attention.
ii) Both are complementary in nature. For analogy, BAT can be compared with Google Display Ad Network which helps third party publishers monetise their content whereas MAT can be compared with Google Adwords which is for their own monetisation.
iii) The price of this tokenized attention depends on the balance between demand and supply side. If demand increases relative to supply with time, the token price is expected to rise and vice versa.
iv) In BAT’s case, there is much less demand side as compared to the marketcap of current circulating supply of tokenized attention (currently more than $200 million) — resulting in an unhealthy balance. The demand side is also restricted by slow execution, BAT not being a part of core user experience and strict approval system which limits broad access to purchased user attention. Furthermore, the supply of tokenized attention is increasing without anyone paying for it currently, and thus is inflationary or price reducing in nature. To be fair, in future, advertising spend in BATs will be shared between publisher, user and Brave team.
v) In MAT’s case, as Masmic is inherently a marketplace for user attention, knowledge and creativity, using tokenized attention to purchase Masmic audience’s attention is part of core user experience and also gives much more democratized access to those wanting to buy people’s online attention in an easy convenient way — just need to post a question attached with incentive!
vi) In BAT’s case, mechanical user attention is tokenized (click and earn like PTC sites) whereas in MAT’s case, creative user attention is tokenized (Q&A format with only few game-theoretic rewards resulting in a healthy competition among participants). Thus in MAT’s case, better quality users are expected to engage with advertisements.
Further Analysis:
There’s no doubt that BAT (Basic Attention Token)/Brave made a major breakthrough in digital advertising space. Before BAT, users weren’t getting incentivized to engage with ads and on top of this, the ads seem forced and distractive to core user experience.
In a way, BAT/Brave model came to the rescue of digital ads industry, otherwise the growing prevalence of ad-blockers were making publishers go the route of bankruptcy which relied on advertising revenues. Now, with over 30,000+ publishers including Wikipedia, Coinmarketcap etc. as Brave partners (https://batgrowth.com/publishers), it looks like publishers were already waiting for something like BAT to arrive!
It created a win-win between advertisers, publishers and users, and with it, created a new model for the future where users earn for their time online.
But there are some limitations with BAT as a utility token.
Apart from the fact that any utility token should have real usecase/utility for which it is designed, three more factors are very important for any utility token’s future potential and price to go up:
i) There should be a healthy balance between the demand side (potential token buyers) and supply side (potential token sellers). This means that overall marketcap of token should be in sync with the network’s traction for which it is designed.
ii) Demand side should not be too small and should also grow with time. This means potential buyers should be large enough and should keep growing with network growth.
iii) Supply side should either remain fixed or even if growing, it should be in response to increasing demand side.
If the above three hold true, then token price will appreciate because ultimately its a matter of demand and supply dynamics. It’s a shame that the crypto token projects for the last few years has mostly focused on selling the ‘decentralize the world’ dream while overlooking basic economics which is the foundation of any healthy tokenomics.
BAT has also faced some challenges in this regard:
i) Currently, publisher websites earn BAT tokens depending on how much time is spent by Brave users on these websites. This results in increased supply of BAT in the market. But who is paying for it currently? Certainly not users! Such increased supply adds selling pressure in the market, pushing the price down. This is very similar to the faulty system seen in Steem’s case. It is to be seen when publishers and users start earning BATs only as portions of advertising spend.
ii) Demand side/advertisers could only cater to a small portion of Brave users as BAT is not native to Brave experience, and only some might decide to enter BAT ecosystem. Thus, the potential of demand side to grow is limited.
iii) It’s not easy for anyone with a budget to advertise to Brave users. For e.g. a youtuber with a small budget can’t advertise on Brave yet. This again limits the potential of demand side to grow.
iv) The team has been too slow to focus on the demand side. Even after 2 years of conducting ICOs, ads have been launched only to a few countries.
MAT will give:
i) Democratic buying access to people’s online attention (but with due regard to user safety),
ii) To anyone from anywhere around the world,
iii) In an easy and convenient way unlike expertise needed to run ads currently,
iv) At much lower cost,
iv) With more engaging format of Q&A rather than click-baitish ads,
v) And a willing audience on the other side to participate
Resulting in a more vibrant demand side in the long term with further growth of the network!
MAT Presale starts on Oct 1 2019 on www.masmic.com. Don’t forget to participate at early discounts and become a part of Masmic’s growth journey.
