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Brave’s Latest News
Welcome to the Brave blog. You’ve reached the front page for news on ad blocking, features, performance, privacy and Basic Attention Token related announcements.
Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google Search and Google Chrome on both mobile and desktop
Today Brave announced the acquisition of Tailcat, the open search engine developed by the team formerly responsible for the privacy search and browser products at Cliqz, a holding of Hubert Burda Media. Tailcat will become the foundation of Brave Search.
Brave and Splinterlands Announce Upcoming BAT Tournaments, Discounts When Using BAT for Land Purchases in Splinterlands, and Limited NFTs
In October of 2020, Brave announced a partnership with Splinterlands, the most popular blockchain game. Brave and Splinterlands both share a similar mission of rewarding users for their time and attention, as well as increasing their privacy on the Web.
BAT Roadmap 2.0
Capitalizing on our user base and the success we have had with BAT adoption, we intend to make crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) accessible and usable for everyone through the following efforts.
Brave Introduces Support for NFT Purchases on the Brave Swag Store, Powered by Origin
We are excited to introduce support for NFT purchases on the Brave Swag Store. The new implementation allows customers to purchase Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), such as limited-edition digital collectibles tokenized on the blockchain…
THEMIS RFC&C Update
A month ago we announced an RFC&C for the THEMIS protocol which is meant to progressively decentralize the Brave/BAT Ads infrastructure, while providing users and advertisers with the ability to verify that the protocol is properly computing user rewards.
AMA with Brave and IPFS
Welcome to the latest post in our series of BAT Community-run AMAs. The ongoing AMA series is an opportunity for our users and fans to get to know the Brave team, and, as of recently, guests from Brave’s partners. Brian Bondy, Brave’s CTO & Co-Founder, and...
Brave Passes 25 Million Monthly Active Users
Over the past year, we have more than doubled the number of our users, going from 11.6 to 25.4 million monthly active users, and from 3.8 to 8.6 million daily active users.
What’s Brave Done For My Privacy Lately? Episode #7: Ephemeral Site Storage
This post presents “ephemeral site storage”, a new strategy for managing third-party storage in Brave, designed to improve Web compatibility, while maintaining the same level of privacy protection.
Ecosia is now an Official Search Engine Option on Brave
Ecosia, the green search engine that uses its advertising revenues to plant trees in areas affected by deforestation, is now integrated as a search engine option in Brave!
Brave Integrates IPFS
IPFS, the peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol designed to make the Web faster, safer, and more open, has been integrated into Brave, the fast, privacy-oriented browser, reinventing the Web for users, publishers and advertisers.
IPFS Support in Brave
Over the past several months, the Brave team has been working with Protocol Labs on adding InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) support in Brave. This is the first deep integration of its kind and we’re very proud to outline how it works in this post.
State of the BAT
Brave launched the Basic Attention Token (BAT) in May 2017 with the aim of realizing the vision executing on the mission of the Basic Attention Token white paper.
Brave/BAT Ads and THEMIS
THEMISv2 allows users to request updates and validate their rewards state in a private and unlinkable way. Users can also calculate the rewards they should receive, and submit proofs of correctness to Brave and other participants in the protocol.
Brave Introduces Brave Today, the Privacy-Preserving News Reader Integrated Into the Browser
The Brave Today news reader is accessible below the new tab page and is delivered anonymously to the user’s browser via Brave’s new private content delivery network.
Brave Private Content Delivery Network
Brave is a company where privacy isn’t just a feature; it’s a requirement. This is perhaps most obvious in the Brave Browser, where we block trackers, prevent fingerprinting, and include a privacy-preserving, opt-in and user-first ad-system, but Brave’s focus on privacy goes far beyond the browser.
How we Choose and Rank Content in Brave Today
We’re using Brave’s new private CDN to fetch RSS feeds anonymously and the browser’s personalization capabilities to rank headlines with a simple algorithm that will make the experience interesting for everyone.
Brave Complies With Apple iOS Guidelines, Will Continue to Innovate for Users and Creators They Support
Brave is releasing a new version of our iOS browser in order to comply with recent stipulations made by Apple.
Brave and Gala Games Partner to Feature BAT Support in New Mirandus Game
Cyber Monday Promotion Gives Brave Users 25% Discount for Land Deed Purchases with BAT Gala Games, the blockchain games studio expanding the network of player-owned game assets, and Brave, makers of the innovative Brave browser combining privacy with the Basic...
Binance Widget Now Available to Brave Android Users, Allowing Easy Trading, Buying, and Managing of Cryptocurrency
Today’s Brave Android browser update (version 1.17) features the Binance widget, which is already available to Brave desktop users and was the first exchange-browser integration of its kind last April. Brave Android users can now seamlessly trade and manage...
AMA with Brian Clifton
Welcome to the latest post in our series of BAT Community-run AMAs! The ongoing AMA series is an opportunity for our users and fans to get to know the Brave team, to chat with them directly, and to illuminate the work and contributions of our team members. (Work that,...
Sunsetting the referral program and planning for the future
Effective today, November 9th, 2020, we will begin to wind-down the current referral program. Creators using the Brave referral program have 14 days to wrap up their Brave promotional activity. Creators not using the referral program will experience no change.
AMA with Luke Mulks
Welcome to the latest post in our series of BAT Community-run AMAs! The ongoing AMA series is an opportunity for our users and fans to get to know the Brave team, to chat with them directly, and to illuminate the work and contributions of our team members. (Work that,...
Brave Passes 20 Million Monthly Active Users and 7 Million Daily Active Users
November marks one year since we launched Brave 1.0, the most private, safest, and fastest (3-6x) browser. Over the past year, we’ve seen amazing growth on multiple fronts and we’re happy to celebrate Brave 1.0’s first anniversary by announcing that we officially passed 20 million monthly active users (20.5), up from 8.7 million this time last year.
What’s Brave Done For My Privacy Lately? Episode #6: Fighting CNAME Trickery
This post discusses a recent technique trackers use, CNAME cloaking, and a new feature in Brave that keeps Brave users protected.
Splinterlands and Brave Announce Partnership
Brave and Splinterlands both share a similar mission of rewarding users for their time and attention as well as increasing user privacy and freedom, and are looking forward to working together to spread those goals.
Changes to the Referral Program
We launched the Referral Program in early 2018 with the intention of distributing $1 million in BAT to content creators who referred new users to Brave. Towards the end of 2018 we decided to extend the program another year. By the end of 2019 more than $2.2 million in BAT had been distributed to content creators.
Global Privacy Control, a new Privacy Standard Proposal, now Available in Brave’s Desktop and Android Testing Versions
As part of our privacy-in-Web-Standards work, we’re proud to have been involved in the design for the “Global Privacy Control” (GPC) proposal. The GPC proposal allows Web users to signal that they do not want to be tracked online, and where relevant, assert legal privacy rights, as described in legislation like the EU’s GDPR and California’s CCPA.
AMA with Christopher
We were joined for our most recent AMA by Christopher, who is better-known in the BAT/Brave community and on Reddit as bat-chriscat, Technical Operations Coordinator at Brave.
Brave.com now has its own Tor Onion Service, providing more users with secure access to Brave
To continue our support for Tor, we wanted to make our website and browser download accessible to Tor users by creating Tor onion services for Brave websites. These services are a way to protect users’ metadata, such as their real location, and enhance the security of our already-encrypted traffic.
Brave Swag Store Customers Can Now Pay With BAT or ETH at Checkout, in Addition to Credit Cards
This post is a follow-up to our announcement, Brave Launches New Swag Store Powered by Origin, from April 2020. Earlier this year, Brave unveiled its fully revamped Brave Swag Store, the official source for Brave and Basic Attention Token-branded merchandise such as...
New Brave Ads Use Cases Show Up to 15.8% Click-Through Rate, Unmatched Engagement
Brave Ads campaigns are now supported in 191 countries with over 2.4 billion ad confirmations to date (a 140% increase from our last report in July). To date, there have been 2,039 campaigns…
An Introduction to Brave’s In-Browser Ads
Introduced in April 2019, Brave Ads provide Brave’s current 18M monthly active users the choice to opt-in to privacy-preserving advertising.
Updates from Brave Research
Brave Research is a highly dynamic team of researchers and developers whose goal is to push the envelope when it comes to some of the more adventurous aspects and needs of the Brave browser and the underlying ecosystem.
Gemini Trading Widget Now Available to Brave Desktop Users
We are excited to announce that Gemini and Brave have partnered to make it easier for users to buy, sell, store, and earn crypto when using the Brave browser.
WebBundles Harmful to Content Blocking, Security Tools, and the Open Web (Standards Updates #2)
This is second in a series of blog posts describing new and proposed web standards and how they support or threaten web privacy. This post is written by Senior Privacy Researcher Peter Snyder (@pes10k). In a Nutshell… Google is proposing a new standard...
THEMIS: Progressive Decentralization with Smart Contracts and Sidechains (Part 2)
In the first blog post of this series, we presented a straw-man version (StrawTHEMIS) of THEMIS. THEMIS is a decentralized ad platform designed by the Brave Research team. We described (i) how a user is rewarded for the interactions with ads, and (ii) how an...
Brave Sync Version 2 Now Available for Desktop and Android Users
Starting today, Brave desktop users (version 1.12) and Android users (version 1.12) can use our fully redesigned sync functionality to sync data from desktop to desktop, as well as across desktop and Android devices. Support for iOS will follow shortly. Sync v2 was...
Johnny Ryan takes a new role with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, after two years as Brave’s Chief Policy and Industry Relations Officer
Brave today announced that Dr Johnny Ryan, FRHistS, Brave’s Chief Policy and Industry Relations Officer, is departing from Brave to join the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. He will also take up a Senior Fellow position at the Open Markets Institute.
bitFlyer Partners with Next-Generation Privacy-Protecting Browser Brave
Brave browser users in Japan will be able to receive and use BAT bitFlyer, Inc. ("bitFlyer"; HQ: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Kimihiro Mine), which operates Japan's No. 1*1 cryptocurrency exchange by Bitcoin trading volume, and Brave Software, Inc. ("Brave Software";...
Brave and Guardian Partner to Integrate Brave iOS Browser with Guardian Firewall + VPN, to Power the Fastest, Safest Browsing Experience
Gemini and Brave have partnered to make it easier for users to buy, sell, store, and earn crypto when using the Brave browser. This integration allows users to engage with crypto via the new Gemini Trading Widget.
Update (Six Months of Data): lessons for growing publisher revenue by removing 3rd party tracking
This note analyses additional granular data from Dutch publisher NPO, and presents lessons for the publishing industry about privacy and revenue based on six months of data from a publishing group that removed 3rd party tracking.
What’s Brave Done For My Privacy Lately #5: Grab Bag
In order to stay one step ahead of online trackers, Brave regularly releases new privacy features and improvements. This post discusses three recent changes in Brave that each help make the web a more privacy, and person, respecting platform.
Brave and Code for Everyone partner to create a new way to support nonprofit organizations via Brave Rewards
Brave has partnered with “Minna no Code” (Code for Everyone), an educational nonprofit organization in Japan. Our partnership introduces new forms of support for NPOs using the next generation Brave browser and the Brave Rewards ecosystem.
Gemini Integrates with Brave for Trading and Wallet Support
Gemini and Brave have partnered to make it easier for users to buy, sell, store, and earn crypto when using the Brave browser. This integration allows users to engage with crypto via the new Gemini Trading Widget.
Travala.com Launches Marketing Campaign via Privacy-Preserving Brave Ads
Travala.com and Brave Software announced a global ad campaign that promotes Travala.com via privacy-preserving Brave Ads.
Brave and NYIAX Announce Partnership Utilizing Blockchain and Privacy to Connect Advertisers and Consumers
As CCPA Enforcement Went Into Effect, Advertisers Can Now Reserve the Option to Limit Engagement to Consumers Rewarded to See Their Promotions Without Tracking San Francisco, CA and New York, NY–July 9, 2020 Brave Software, makers of the innovative Brave browser...
bitFlyer Partners with Next-Generation privacy-protecting Browser Brave
Brave’s first partnership in the crypto asset wallet space in Japan bitFlyer, Inc. ("bitFlyer"; HQ: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Kimihiro Mine), which operates Japan's No. 1*1 cryptocurrency exchange by Bitcoin trading volume, and Brave Software, Inc. ("Brave...
New data shows publisher revenue impact of cutting 3rd party trackers
This note shares new data on publisher revenue impact from switching off 3rd party ad tracking.
THEMIS: Towards a Decentralized Ad Platform with Reporting Integrity (Part 1)
The whitepaper introducing the Basic Attention Token (BAT) [1] was released mid 2017 and, since then, BAT has been used by millions of users, advertisers, and publishers, each using and earning BAT through the Brave Browser (Figure 1) [2]. It has been a long ride...
California Privacy Rights Act to define and limit “cross-context behavioral advertising”
Following a court decision on Friday, it is now highly likely that California will introduce legislation that curtails adtech tracking.
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