With today’s updated Brave browser for desktop (0.69), Brave users can choose to transfer Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) out of their Brave Rewards wallet and convert the tokens to many digital assets and fiat currencies, after completing a verification process with digital money platform Uphold. Previously, the Brave browser wallet was unidirectional, and its sole purpose was to anonymously and securely contribute to online publishers of the user’s choosing.
As always, Brave users are not required to sign up at all to use Brave as a browser, nor are Brave users required to sign up anywhere to use Brave Rewards. The option announced today is for users who wish to take out tokens or to add their own.
Brave users who opt into viewing privacy-preserving Brave Ads earn BAT on a monthly basis (70% of the ad revenue), which is in turn donated to the user’s favorite online publishers and creators by default. There are now over 280,000 Verified Publishers on the Brave platform. With the new Brave wallet, users have the option to connect to their Uphold account and be directly rewarded for their attention while browsing with Brave. They can otherwise store BAT earned from Brave Rewards in the wallet. Once a Brave user is connected to their Uphold account, they can also add BAT they already own to their wallet, or purchase additional BAT from Uphold in order to further reward their favorite content creators on the web.
“Brave’s goal to reconnect users with creators and advertisers in order to fix the broken online ad system is now complete with the new Brave wallet, and we’re thrilled to have partnered with Uphold for this crucial development,” said Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave. “The Brave browser offers unmatched speed, privacy, and most importantly an integrated wallet that rewards users and supports content creators, removing intermediaries that thrive on surveillance and fraud.”
JP Thieriot, CEO and co-founder of Uphold, underlined the importance of Brave’s mission to address the invasion of privacy that has grown with the evolution of the Internet: “Brave has become the first crypto ecosystem to jump the chasm into mass market relevance. Nobody is even close. It’s a huge, noble and wildly relevant mission to take back an Internet that has made all of our proclivities, susceptibilities, and private information the central products of a few dominant players. Taking on the juggernauts might seem quixotic, but for the fact that Brave is driven by the inventor of JavaScript and the incredibly creative and talented team he’s assembled.”
“At Uphold, we are at the fore of developing a new paradigm for portable, self-sovereign financial identity, and the intended outcome is as close to Brave’s privacy ideals as is legally possible,” he added.
How the wallet works
Users simply need to click on “verify wallet” in Brave Rewards to initiate this process. They will be redirected to an authorization page at Uphold. Once the user has registered with Uphold, a Brave-branded BAT “card” will be created in their Uphold account and they will be directed to connect their Brave browser to their Uphold BAT card. Brave does not store any identifying information about its users.
If a user wallet is verified, it will allow the user to:
- Add BAT via fiat or other cryptocurrencies
- Take out BAT earned via Brave Rewards and convert to fiat and other cryptocurrencies
- Take out BAT they previously deposited in their Brave wallet
- Store BAT earned from Brave Rewards
About Brave:
Brave Software’s fast, privacy-oriented browser, combined with its blockchain-based digital advertising platform (Basic Attention Token), is resetting the web for users, publishers and advertisers. Users get a better, less cluttered and speedier web experience, publishers increase their revenue share, and advertisers receive better conversion. Brave’s micropayments system and opt-in privacy-preserving Brave Ads provide a new way forward for publishers. The Brave solution is a win-win for everyone who has a stake in the open Web and who is weary of giving up privacy and revenue to the ad-tech intermediaries. Brave currently has 7 million monthly active users and over 280,000 Verified Publishers. Brave Software was co-founded by Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Mozilla, and Brian Bondy, formerly of Khan Academy and Mozilla.
About Uphold:
Uphold is a digital money platform providing consumers worldwide with convenient and secure access to traditional currencies, cryptocurrencies, and other investments. Uphold has powered more than $5 billion in transactions across 184 countries, covering over 50 currencies and four commodities. The platform has more than 1 million users. Uphold is the only financial platform to publish its reserve holdings in real time. The company has offices in San Francisco, New York, Portugal and London. More information can be found at www.uphold.com, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Not licensed in all jurisdictions.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191003005814/en/