Brave Browser Review: A Guide to the Crypto-Native Browser

Brave Browser is a search engine focused on user privacy; Brave offers the same functionality as traditional browsers such as Chrome and Safari, however, uses built-in traffic and ad blockers.

Brave was founded in 2015 by Brendan Eich, who had the idea of creating a browser that protected user data rather than commercializing it. Brave makes user privacy protection the standard, while also providing users with the option and incentives to view ads. Brave Browser has its own cryptocurrency known as Basic Attention Token (BAT), which is given to users who opt-in to advertisements.

Once opted in, users can passively earn BAT whilst browsing. Alternatively, Brave users can opt out of ads altogether and still have their data protected. 

The BAT Token: The Foundation of Brave 

Brave has doubled its user base every year since launching in 2015. It currently has over 59.3 million users, 15.5 million daily active users, and over 1.3 million content creators on the platform.

The dev team believes that user data should be an asset, not something taken for free, and they made the BAT token to facilitate the exchange of attention. Once Brave has been installed, users can opt-in for BAT tokens. They will receive tokens for watching advertisements and paying with time, attention, and data. However, using Brave isn’t the only way to earn BAT tokens. By registering as a Brave Publisher on social media platforms, creators can accept BAT donations for their content. Users can also receive rewards for each user they refer to the browser. 

Brave Wallets

When signing up to Brave, users can create their own built-in wallet to store their BAT tokens without needing an external wallet. 

Unlike many browser-based wallets such as MetaMask, the Brave Wallet is already built into the browser itself. This means no extension is required, making the dynamic more user-friendly. Even if you have no DeFi experience, you can quickly understand how Brave Wallets work.

Brave Wallets also support hardware wallets such as Trezor and Ledger for more experienced cryptocurrency enthusiasts. These external wallets provide extra protection when compared to decentralized wallets as they’re not connected to the internet. The only downside to Brave Wallets is they only support Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, Polygon, and Avalanche.

How to Sign Up to Earn BAT

Once you’ve installed the browser, you can begin earning BAT almost straight away. During the setup process, you can set up your own in-browser wallet, which will store all the tokens you earn. 

From here, head over to settings and choose how many advertisements you’d like to receive. The more you allow, the more BAT you’ll earn. Each month, your BAT will be paid to your wallet, which can then be withdrawn using an Uphold cryptocurrency exchange account. 

Brave requires all users to pass a basic KYC (know your customer) compliance test to make sure nobody is using it for any fraudulent payments. In order to do this, it needs your name, email, phone number, and a few other details. This is where Uphold comes into play. Uphold is a digital money platform that utilizes an Anything-to-Anything trading model. It enables customers to trade directly between asset classes and will help you pass your KYC compliance. Once passed you can withdraw BAT directly.

Brave’s AI Chatbot: LEO

In late 2023, Brave introduced Leo, a chatbot available on the desktop browser that can do things such as answering questions, summarizing web pages, and generating content.

Contrary to other popular AI chatbots such as those built with OpenAI’s API, Brave retains its privacy-focused initiative through unique features such as no recording of conversations and no log-ins needed for usage. 

Based on Meta’s Llama 2 AI model, LEO is free. A premium version of LEO using Anthropic’s Claude Instant model (faster responses) is available for about $15 per month. Additional premium perks include higher-quality conversations, higher rate limits, priority queuing, and early feature access.

How Does Brave Compare to Traditional Browsers? 

Despite being relatively new in the browser market, Brave has some distinct advantages that help it stand out in a highly competitive market. 

Brave is made for anyone concerned about privacy. With current browsers using data more than ever before, many consumers are worried about how much personal information they have and how it’s being used. Recent documentaries such as The Social Dilemma showed just how much data is collected by platforms to create an ideal customer profile. Brave allows users to protect themselves from such platforms, with users being compensated for any data they choose to share. But this isn’t the only advantage. 

As well as protecting users’ data, Brave is also pretty fast– Brave loads pages up to eight times faster than Chrome, which is known as the fastest browser for Windows devices.

BAT is a unique incentive not offered by any other browsers– it’s a great way to generate a small income whilst browsing and an easy way to enter the world of cryptocurrency.

The only downside to Brave is that it’s not as compatible as Google when it comes to websites and extensions. With a significantly smaller user base and superior ad-blocking technology, Brave has been known to crash on certain websites. This is slightly inconvenient for users, however, compatibility may improve as the browser grows. 

How to Become a Brave Publisher

For users who are already producing content with the intention of ranking on popular search engines, Brave Publisher offers a route to generate extra income. Users can sign up with an account on the Brave website, which will allow them to accept BAT tokens on a range of platforms. These include Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, and of course, the publisher’s website. 

Brave provides publishers with most of the tools available on current platforms such as the number of views and what channels are performing the best. These can be integrated with the platforms mentioned above to help creators get the most out of their analytics.

Final Thoughts: Is Brave Browser Worth the Switch? 

With the amount of personal information collected by browsers not looking to change any time soon, Brave is a great alternative for those who want to use the internet with more privacy. Not only does Brave Browser provide users with greater protection, but it’s also faster than most alternatives and offers lucrative incentives for those who want to sell their data.

This makes it a great browser for crypto users to earn extra income and for those new to crypto to learn in a secure environment. 

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