What is a Native Utility Token
Utility token’s specialty is having more functionality than a regular crypto coin. They are not created strictly as a currency but more as a straightforward way to give users access to services or products.
Many of these tokens start as an ICO (initial coin offering) to fund the development of the platform and give investors early access to the benefits of the platform that the issuing company is developing.
Usually, the tokens are used to pay for expenses of using a certain product, for example, paying for an Uber ride or crypto exchange trading fees.
Usually, utility tokens can be used on the issuing platform but not for anything else. At the same time, tokens can be actively traded and have value against major fiat and cryptocurrencies like USD and BTC. Self-governing platforms and DEXs let users make executive decisions by using the native utility tokens they hold. This also classifies them as governance tokens.
In this article, we will look at native utility tokens that were launched by entities that are significant in the crypto sphere.
Binance Coin (BNB)
Binance is one of the major crypto exchanges that strives to create its own ecosystem. A part of it is Binance Coin, the utility token native to the Binance Smart Chain and Binance Chain.
BEP-20 and BEP-2 are the token standards and they extend to ERC-20 on the Ethereum Chain. BNB is used to fuel the transfer of BEP-2 and BEP-20 tokens on the Binance Chain.
The value of the token is used as a fee that provides an incentive for validators to submit the transactions to the blockchain.
BNB can be used for payments on services with merchants who partner with Binance which includes travel, entertainment, and financial offers.
During the ICO, all 100 million BNB tokens available for public sale were sold for 15 cents each. Binance raised a total of $15 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) from this ICO. Right now it trades at $522.54.
Similar to BNB, CRO is the native token of a major crypto exchange. Crypto.com has launched its native proprietary token CRO in 2018. In November of this year, it nearly quadrupled in price thanks to successful marketing campaigns that included celebrity promotions and brand collaborations.
CRO is used to power the Crypto.com ecosystem which includes a trading app and physical Visa debit cards. It can be used by the users to acquire benefits such as staking rewards, higher interest rates, and lower trading fees. CRO is also a governance token on the Crypto.com Chain as it is utilized as a voting mechanism.
Currently, CRO is traded at $0.5411 and its all time high was reached 20 days ago at $0.9698.
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Basic Attention Token (BAT) is the utility token that is used on the private Brave browser. It is built on top of the Ethereum (ETH) chain as an ERC-20 token.
BAT’s primary function is to provide payments for users’ attention to advertising. It strives to provide a better experience to both users of the browsers and companies paying for advertising services with fewer ads and better response rates.
Publishers are rewarded with BAT for sustained user attention and advertisers enjoy better rates with fraud reduction and targeting that utilizes anonymous user attention data.
The rate of BAT is linked to ETH at 6,400 BAT per 1 ETH. This means that if the Ethereum price goes up, the price of BAT is adjusted proportionally. Right now the price equals $1.04.
BitTorrent (BTT)
BTT is the TRC-10 token that is utilized on BitTorrent, a P2P decentralized file sharing platform.
BitTorrent protocol is used to break downloadable files into parts that are then stored and shared by multiple users. The members of the system are then rewarded with BTT.
The more participants are interacting with the file, the higher the speed of loading for each of the downloads.
BTT can be sold on major crypto exchanges. The current is rate is $0.00279. it can also be used to buy premium BitTorrent services that include VPN capabilities and ad-free browsing.
ChangeNOW Token (NOW)
NOW the ticker of an ERC-20 native utility token that was introduced by the ChangeNOW crypto swap platform. It was launched 3 years ago as the first token issued on the Binance Chain.
It can be staked by users of the platform at up to 25% ROI (return on investment). The whale protection ensures there is a maximum limit of 100,000 NOW.
It can also be used to pay for accelerated customer support and services that are offered to crypto projects including listing and advertising.
New services can also become available in the future. For example, recently ChangeNOW launched a Visa card pre-order that costs 50 NOW Tokens.
Currently NOW is trading at $0.06169. Besides Ethereum chain and Binance Chain and plans to launch on other chains as well.
Conclusion
Native utility tokens are a great tool to encourage the creation of an ecosystem around a product or a service.
They are usually positioned to serve a purpose and not pose as a financial investment. Still, those who bought popular platforms’ tokens several years ago can already see a big return on their investment.
Utility tokens are used for staking, user rewards, or payment for services. Its usage is beneficial for both the issuing company and for the users of the service provided.
If you are an active user of the platform, these tokens can be advantageous to save on the service fee as well as acting as a currency that can be traded against other tokens.
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