BAT Roadmap 4.0

The Web continues to evolve, bringing new and emerging challenges and threats to users. Brave was born to meet exactly this kind of challenge: to fix the Web by building user-first alternatives to more privacy-harming defaults. Since then, Brave has expanded that user-first mission into a product used by over 120 million people worldwide.

With the September 2016 introduction of the Brave Payments proof of concept, Brave began applying that mission to Web monetization, with features that combine zero knowledge and blockchain cryptography. Lessons learned from the Brave Payments proof of concept drove the evolution to the Basic Attention Token (BAT) and Brave Rewards, growing an ecosystem of private advertising and creator contributions to tens of millions of Brave Rewards users and over 2 million verified websites and content creators.

The economics of the Web are undergoing rapid change and innovation. AI adoption is changing the way users engage with content. Stablecoins and blockchain technology are upgrading the payments and transactional space, while merchants, restaurants, and the places we make everyday purchases adopt “cashless-only” payments. Without a digital alternative, the anonymity afforded by the wallet and cash in your back pocket may be lost in a cashless economy.

Creators continue to face challenges for how to fund their content, and those challenges have grown significantly with AI. With the growth of AI use and summarization, creators often have less visibility into where and how their content is being used, receive less attribution for that use, and generally are not compensated for it.

Users and creators should earn in this ecosystem, and not be left behind. Brave aims to rise to meet these new challenges, while growing BAT utility and the larger ecosystem. This means continuing the tradition of building solutions that meet users and creators where they are, and including them in the economics. This also means meeting users where they are transacting both within and beyond the browser. BAT Roadmap 4.0 therefore marks an important shift in the evolution of the Basic Attention Token, Brave Rewards, and Brave Creators within the transactional attention economy.

Initiatives

Roadmap 4.0 brings together the following mutually reinforcing initiatives:

• Internet-payments x402 and Machine Payments Protocol (MPP): Supporting autonomous agentic payments in the browser, for Brave’s premium offerings and for Creator content.
• A new, unified Brave Wallet: A new, in-browser Brave Wallet experience that brings traditional payment methods (including saved credit cards, self-custody crypto accounts, and Brave Rewards) into one intuitive interface.
• BravePay: A stablecoin protocol layer that enables users, creators, and merchants to transact, earn, and settle privately on-chain.
• Brave Rewards Card: A stablecoin-powered virtual and physical payment card with competitive purchase rewards.
• Creator Contribution Protocol: A system for compensating verified creators when their content is used in AI experiences.
• BravePay SDK and Rewards SDK: Open-source SDKs that allow developers to quickly integrate BravePay and Brave Rewards functionality.
  • For merchants, the SDKs will make it easy to support payment methods built on the BravePay protocol.
  • For app developers, the SDKs will enable user onboarding to BravePay-powered payments and provide access to the broader Brave Rewards ecosystem, including Brave Ads for additional monetization, and Brave Creators, connecting developers to millions of registered websites and content creators.

As we iterate and continue to pursue product-market fit, some of the roadmap items above may become less of a focus over time, while others may be prioritized. Useful roadmaps provide direction while remaining flexible enough to adapt to unforeseen challenges. We plan to publish regular updates on roadmap progress, along with publishing detailed posts and calls to action for the community for items in the sections below. 

Internet-payments x402 and Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) support in Brave

A key foundational step in supporting stablecoin payments for agentic commerce and autonomous systems, Brave will introduce support in the browser for x402 and Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) transactions. Brave’s implementation will use the HTTP 402 Payment Required status as a shared mechanism, providing equal first-class support for x402 and MPP options. For example, in the case of a Creator or API with protected content the browser will receive a 402 response code with a compatible x402 or MPP body, and provide payment for access to protected content. In addition to browser support, Brave will also be adding support for x402 and MPP transactions to the Brave Search API and other Brave offerings over time.

For a closer look, the open-source bx402 project with an example for the Brave Search API is available to view and reference from our brave-experiments GitHub repository.

A new, unified Brave Wallet

The browser-native, self-custodial Brave Wallet will undergo a complete redesign and evolve into the new unified Brave Wallet.

The new Brave Wallet will include:

• Traditional saved payment methods including debit cards, credit cards, and the Brave Rewards Card, all stored locally in the browser.
• Self-custody multi-chain crypto accounts with on- and off-ramp funding, the features users already know from the crypto Brave Wallet, and support for the upcoming BravePay protocol integration. 
• Brave Rewards integrated directly into the wallet, allowing users to opt in and earn rewards through use of the Brave Rewards Card, and benefit from transactions with participating partner brands and other Brave Wallet-related activities.

The team is looking forward to inviting participation in testing and feedback for the new Brave Wallet experience from the community and our userbase. We are aiming to post invitations with calls to action for users and the community to test and provide feedback for prototypes this fall.

The Brave Rewards Card

One of the most exciting initiatives in BAT Roadmap 4.0 is the Brave Rewards Card: a Brave-branded virtual and physical payment card designed for everyday purchases in eligible countries.

Powered by the BravePay protocol and GENIUS-compliant stablecoins, the Brave Rewards Card meets users and merchants where they are by leveraging traditional payment rails.

The Brave Rewards Card extends Brave Rewards beyond the browser. As users make purchases with the card, they will earn BAT rewards, while also unlocking exclusive Brave Rewards offers and benefits. The card will be available as both a virtual card in Brave Wallet (and other major digital wallets), as well as in physical form for in-store purchases.

To bring the Brave Rewards Card to users, Brave will partner with a compliant card issuer and support as many countries as possible at launch. Additional details regarding the card partner, geographic availability, purchase rewards, and the Brave Rewards Card waitlist will be shared in a future announcement. 

BravePay

Over the last several years, stablecoins have emerged as a powerful new payment rail, with tens of trillions of dollars in transaction volume. We aim to bring stablecoin-based peer-to-peer and e-commerce transactions into a protocol that’s easy to onboard and use, enabling more than 120 million Brave users to benefit from them.

To achieve this, Brave plans to introduce BravePay: a stablecoin protocol layer designed around self-custody, privacy, and ease of use.

What BravePay enables

• Self-custody by default: Users maintain control of their funds.
• Simple onboarding: New users can on-ramp from fiat directly into BravePay.
• Easy transactions: Payments can be sent and received using .brave addresses.
• Private transactions: Bringing privacy to your wallet so what you buy isn’t tracked by Big Tech or payment networks.
• Support for stablecoins: Experienced crypto users can transact using GENIUS-compliant stablecoins they already have in their wallets.
• Compatibility with x402 and MPP payment integration

Rollout strategy

Near term

• Integration with Brave Wallet
• Integration with the Brave Rewards Card

Longer term

• Merchant support for seamless e-commerce transactions.
• Introduction of an open-source SDK allowing developers to integrate BravePay into their applications.

BravePay will extend Brave’s user-first approach to privacy, transactions, and rewards beyond the browser, meeting users where they transact in the real world. 

Paving the way for the agentic economy

While our immediate focus remains on Brave users, we are closely watching the rapid development of machine-to-machine and human-to-machine payments in the emerging agentic economy. A growing number of protocols, including x402 and MPP, are competing for adoption.

BravePay lays the groundwork for payments between humans and machines alike. As this ecosystem evolves, Brave aims to enable browser-driven interactions with agents that unlock entirely new and exciting use cases with these agentic payment capabilities but with additional privacy-preserving options. This will start with BravePay compatibility with the Brave x402 and MPP implementation, and extend to other options over time.

BAT buybacks and Brave Rewards

In addition to the BAT purchases Brave already makes for user rewards through Brave Ads campaigns, the BAT Roadmap 4.0 introduces new transactional BAT utility and rewards for Brave Rewards users and verified Brave creators.

A percentage of Brave’s net revenue from Roadmap 4.0-related sources will fund BAT buybacks that support user rewards, creator contributions, and program growth through the BAT User Growth Pool (UGP) Reserve. For example, these revenue sources are expected to include:

• Brave Wallet revenue-generating features
• Swaps
• Cross-chain bridging
• NEAR Intents
• On- and off-ramps
• .brave domains sold through Brave Wallet
• Brave Rewards Card revenue, including revenue associated with the Brave Rewards Card as it becomes available in eligible markets.
• BravePay protocol revenue, a percentage of which will be used for BAT buybacks.

Additional details regarding relevant tokenomics in Brave Rewards will be shared in a separate blog post later in 2026, and will be included in relevant posts for other roadmap items as development progresses.

Opportunistic BAT buybacks

Brave also plans to make opportunistic BAT buybacks in addition to revenue-generated buybacks. These buybacks will support program growth, incentives, and expansion of the BAT UGP Reserve.

Buyback timing and amounts will vary based on market conditions and program needs. Brave will publicly disclose opportunistic buybacks through the Brave Transparency and BAT Ecosystem Growth pages.

Updates to Brave Rewards 

As Roadmap 4.0 expands BAT utility across Brave Wallet, BravePay, and the Brave Rewards Card, Brave Rewards will also evolve beyond its original browser-based rewards model. Users will continue to earn for their attention to eligible privacy-preserving Brave Ads units, while new rewards experiences will increasingly focus on offers, purchases, wallet activity, and loyalty.

Brave Ads

The Brave Ads Notification unit will begin a gradual sunset by the end of 2026 as Roadmap 4.0 utility features are activated. Over time, notifications will increasingly be used to inform Brave Rewards users about offers from participating brands and categories available through the Brave Rewards Offer Wall, rather than serving as ad units themselves.

Brave Rewards Offer Wall 

We will also introduce additional personalization features, including the ability for users to subscribe to favorite brands and categories for a more tailored Offer Wall experience.

Loyalty program

• Loyalty tiers that provide additional rewards based on Brave Wallet and Brave Rewards Card usage, duration of participation, and the amount of BAT held over time.
• BravePass, a crypto-abstracted Brave Rewards experience in which BAT earned through Brave Rewards is locked into a BravePass, giving the pass holder access to Brave Premium offerings and potentially other Brave benefits.

Together, these updates extend Brave Rewards from attention-based rewards into a broader rewards and loyalty system encompassing purchases, wallet activity, and more. As with Brave Premium and the existing Brave Rewards ecosystem, all of these new features can be implemented using privacy-preserving cryptographic protocols, allowing users to earn rewards without sacrificing their privacy. 

Creator Contribution Protocol

Today, AI models and tools use creator content during both training and inference without compensating the creators whose work makes those systems valuable. We believe that when AI systems generate value from creator content, a portion of that value should flow back to those creators in a verifiable way.

To make this possible, content creators, publishers, and AI products need to be connected through a shared, verifiable protocol. This is the Creator Contribution Protocol. With the protocol, we envision registered creators receiving micro-royalty payments for qualified content use when participating AI products access their content. 

BAT has already proven itself as the leading unit of account for attention on the Web, allowing millions of users to contribute to their favorite content creators. With millions of creators—including some of the world’s largest publishers—already registered with Brave Creators, Brave and BAT are in a unique position to lead by example on how content creators can earn with AI.

Later in 2026, we plan to publish a blog post specifically covering the Creator Contribution Protocol, and look forward to engaging with the community and Brave Creators to receive input and test as we go through the research and development process. 

Community 

Community participation will be a key part of BAT Roadmap 4.0. Over the past year, we’ve established a testing program and evolved the BAT Ambassadors program to support the road ahead. For example, BAT Ambassadors, alongside the broader BAT community, will help test, provide feedback on, and validate new features and experiences as they are introduced.

Building products that users adopt and enthusiastically recommend to their friends and family is central to the roadmap’s success. We’re excited to work closely with the community and our lead users to make this a reality. More details will be shared in future updates and calls to action.

Conclusion

Roadmap 4.0 brings BAT into a broader set of everyday interactions for users, merchants, and creators:

• The unified Brave Wallet combines traditional payment methods with next-generation transaction capabilities powered by BravePay.
• The Brave Rewards Card extends BAT utility to traditional payment rails, both inside and outside the browser.
• Revenue from Brave Wallet, the Brave Rewards Card, and BravePay will fund BAT buybacks that support purchase and transaction rewards for Brave Rewards users.
• The Creator Contribution Protocol modernizes the Brave Creators model, opening new verifiable ways for creators to earn as AI changes how content is created, curated, and consumed.

Together, these initiatives create a system in which browsing, transacting, and content creation can each contribute to sustained BAT demand and broader BAT utility across the evolving user-first Web.

Users and supporters of Brave can help advance this mission by adopting Brave Wallet and BravePay. Those who configure their AI agents to transact through BravePay will also position themselves at the forefront of the emerging agentic economy, and be rewarded for their participation.

Work with us

If your project aligns with this roadmap, we’d love to hear from you. Contact: bizdev@brave.com to connect with us.

We look forward to building on this roadmap with our users and the broader Brave and BAT community, and we welcome your feedback and participation every step of the way. Follow the official Basic Attention Token (BAT) X for the latest announcements and product updates, and BAT Community X for community news, events, and discussions. We also invite you to join our weekly BAT Community Call every Tuesday at 2:00 PM Pacific on Brave Talk, with a live simulcast on X, featuring the latest updates and an open Q&A with the team.