Could Imgur Be Brave Browser’s Next Partner?

Download the Brave Browser.

The BAT community has unearthed what could be an exciting development for the Basic Attention Token (BAT) project, as a verification file for tokens in favor of Imgur, one of the internet’s largest photo sharing sites, has been spotted.

Reddit user, ggpurehope, presented the verification file (first noted by BATGrowth creator Maxence Cornet) as evidence for a possible partnership with Imgur, and found further support in an interview of Brave CEO Brendan Eich where Eich pointed out that Brave would soon work with a source that features over 80 million ad blocking users — a bill Imgur fits.

Eich said:

I’m going to tell a story about a site which has 80 million ad blocking unique visitors per month. It has many more non ad blocking but it has a high ad blocking instance, and they are ready to try something with us that would convert those ad blocker users, some of those whom are using the corrupt ad blockers I just mentioned to you, take [inaudible] to let ads through, they’re ready to convert those users to Brave users.

The podcast on which the interview was conducted, focusing on how the Brave browser and the BAT token can fix digital advertising, can be found below:

How Imgur Could Benefit From a Partnership with Brave

The on-boarding of Imgur, which is ranked #15 on Alexa’s web rankings and possesses a user base of over 250 million, would mark a significant development for the BAT project, after having already managed to rope in the likes of the Guardian, Washington Post and BitTorrent.

Brave’s total number of publishers is just under 30,000, having grown exponentially in 2018.  

Imgur’s users heavily make use of ad-blocking services, which takes away from the site’s revenue. The introduction of direct payments from users may bring in some much welcomed financial stimulus.

Furthermore, Imgur would be incentivized to shepherd as many users towards the Brave browser, and earning US$5 for each new sign-up. Even 10% of the ad-blocking user base would mean a significant influx of money for Imgur, and would equal the $40 million revenue generated in 2017.

All Eyes on BAT

This rumored partnership follows 2 other major listing news: the BAT token being listed on Coinbase and the Goldman Sach’s backed Circle platform. The Coinbase listing in particular has investors enthusiastic about BAT’s prospects.

BAT has had a positive year in terms of ecosystem-building and brand recognition. Brave browser’s user base has grown exponentially, hitting nearly 5 million users in October 2018, and they’ve also recently released a tipping feature on social media platforms like Reddit, Twitter and YouTube.

The partnership with Imgur still remains speculation, however. While Eich has stated that there is a major partnership around the corner, it may yet be a different collaborator.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Download the Brave Browser.