Brave Browser
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Brave Browser is an open-source browser application focused on prioritizing user privacy and democratizing online advertising. It has been developed using the Chromium web browser as a basis. While many browsers are built upon Chromium code, such as Microsoft Edge and Opera, Brave is specifically focused on the user privacy niche and blocks all ads and trackers by default. Brave Software was co-founded in May 2015 by CEO Brendan Eich (creator of JavaScript and former CEO of Mozilla Corporation) and CTO Brian Bondy.[1] Brave is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. As of February 2021, Brave Browser had over 25 million monthly active users. [2]
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Key Features
Ad and Tracker Blocking
Brave Browser blocks all ads and third-party trackers by default. On any given tab, the browser has an option to toggle a display to see how many items have been blocked on that particular page (cross-site trackers, connections upgraded to HTTPS, scripts blocked).[3] The Brave Browser does not serve individual user browsing data on its servers, unlike most other browsers; instead, all user data is aggregated before being returned to Brave's servers. The ads and trackers that are blocked by default can also be customized by the user at any time. [4]
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
The Basic Attention Token (BAT) is an Ethereum based token that can be traded on a wallet embedded in the browser itself. BAT is the unit of exchange used for browser features such as Brave Rewards (discussed in the next section). BAT had its initial coin offering (ICO) on May 31st, 2017 [5] In under 30 seconds, 1,000,000,000 BAT were sold for a total of 156,250 Ethereum. [6]
Brave Rewards
Brave Rewards allows users to support their favorite content creators (YouTubers, Twitter users, blog owners, etc.) directly by sending them BAT (which can be converted to cash). This practice is known as tipping. Users can choose to set up recurring payments
