What is the Brave Browser? Get paid to surf the web

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What is the Brave Browser?

I got interested in Brave because I had been exploring different applications that leverage cryptocurrency. And there are many! But I wanted to find one that I would use daily and didn’t require me to have a developer background.

And I stumbled into Brave which utilizes the Basic Attention Token (BAT).

So, what is the Brave browser?

Brave is a free and open-source web browser developed by CEO of Brave Software Inc., Brendan Eich, co-founder and former CTO of Mozilla.

The Brave browser is based on the Chrome web browser. Yes, the same one you might be using now!

Among the many features, one of the BEST is that the Brave browser blocks ads and website trackers.

What’s so cool about the Brave browser?

So after diving in and playing with it for five minutes, I discovered that I found a great alternative to Chrome. Actually a better version! The best way to describe Brave is that it’s Chrome on steroids.

The user experience of Brave mimics Chrome in every way — you can even install Chrome extensions on it. But it takes a step beyond the features available through Chrome today, with a focus on true privacy, user protection, and convenience.

From a cryptocurrency perspective, it is one of the few projects in existence today that I believe is the real deal, not just because of the value proposition, but also because of Brave’s creative way of executing it — through its own native browser.

Try Brave Browser for a day or two. You’ll forget that you’re not using Chrome.

Brave’s Features

I can tell you’re excited to try Brave but you’re afraid you will lose all your Chrome saved bookmarks and passwords. Don’t worry, Brave allows you to import and migrate them all over seamlessly.

The brave browser has many features. Here are just a few!

Ads

Get paid to surf the web!

This feature has launched and is continually being updated by Brave. The idea is simple, while ad-block is enabled by default, users can opt-in to view ads.

By watching ads, you can earn BAT, which can be used to support content creators or withdraw for fiat or other cryptocurrencies.

It’s the same as Twitch Bits — the successful tipping system implemented by Twitch exclusively for its platform. Bits are used to send tips to streamers and can be purchased or earned by watching ads.

Auto-Contribute

Auto-contribute is a background-tipping system. By enabling it, you can distribute a set amount of BAT to all of the websites that you visit every month — based on the amount of time you spend on the site.

This is optional and you can turn it on or off easily as you can see.

You can set the total amount you want to distribute every month, and the browser takes care of calculating all the allocations.

Tip Creators with BAT

The Tip feature is amazing!

Why?

Because you can send the Basic Attention Token (BAT) to a Brave Verified Publisher and creator.

This could be a website, YouTube channel, Twitch or even on Twitter!

Through Brave, verified publishers (like Halfbare!) receive more revenue because middlemen and fraud are reduced. Also, users like YOU are rewarded for their attention, creating a win-win for both the publisher and user.

Ad Blocker

Google Chrome doesn’t come with native ad-blocking capabilities.

Why?

Because advertising makes up a majority of Google’s revenue.

Luckily, Brave comes with an ad-blocker installed.

Cool, it blocks ads…

Shields UP is much more than just an ad blocker!

Brave fights malware and prevents tracking, keeping your information safe and secure. Also, their servers neither see nor store your browsing data – it stays private, on your devices, until you delete it. Which means they won’t ever sell your data to third parties.

They won’t be Facebook’in your data to the highest bidder!

Speed

Currently, Brave loads pages 2x faster on desktop and up to 8x faster on mobile. It can be even faster on the majority of sites. In November 2018, Brave announced SpeedReader:

SpeedReader is Brave’s new approach to reader mode, the browser tool that makes web pages more pleasant and less complex to read. By removing all non-essential content before a page loads, SpeedReader goes beyond reader mode’s aesthetic improvements and delivers:

1) radical performance gains (speedups ranging from 20× to 27×, bandwidth savings on the order of 84×, and memory reduction of 2.4×);

2) significant privacy benefits, which include a complete elimination of ad and tracking related requests.

SpeedReader is useful on 22% of web pages in general, and has even higher applicability for user-shared content (31% on Twitter and 42% on Reddit).

Brave is able to do this by removing the “bloat” that loads with most webpages — such as advertisements and tracking. Basically, pulling out the content that matters — what you want to read — and blocking all the click bait or unnecessary information clogging up your reading experience.

Conclusion

I only highlighted a few features because there are too many to list, with constant updates being released.

If you have additional questions or concerns, check out Learn and Earn with Coinbase where they have a fantastic series on Brave and the Basic Attention Token (BAT) — where you can learn and earn FREE BAT.

With Brave, there is no learning curve, especially if you are coming over from Chrome — you should feel right at home immediately. Try it out for a few days and let me know what you think.

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