The creators of the privacy-centric
Brave browser have created a cryptocurrency called Basic Attention Token, or
BAT, which you can earn by viewing ads and pay to sites you like. We show you
how to start racking up BAT and how you can spend it.
Brave is
a privacy-focused browser that aims to
prevent its users from being tracked online. That largely means preventing
advertisers from tracking you, which disrupts the main way many websites make
money. Brave’s makers aren’t just interested in the privacy side of the
equation, however. One of their goals is to fundamentally change the way
websites make money, using the BAT (Basic Attention Token) cryptocurrency,
based on the Ethereum blockchain.
News and information sites like this one-and their readers-particularly stand
to benefit from the concept. Will it catch on? It’s hard to say, but shifting
the power (and some of the money involved) into the hands of users is an attractive
idea.
What Is Brave?
Brave, just
like Chrome, Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi, is based on Google’s open-source
Chromium browser code, so it’s compatible, fast, and familiar. It sports some
unique features, too: Ad blocking and web tracking protection are built in, its
private browsing mode can hide your traffic using Tor, it includes a built-in
BitTorrent utility, and it offers a cryptocurrency wallet.
The BAT system
will only take off if lots of sites take advantage of what it offers: ad-free
content support and letting the users earn by giving their attention to a
site’s advertisements. Brave claims that over 500,000 content creators and
publishers participate in the program. The company also makes a compelling case
that most of the ad money on the web is going to Google and Facebook these
days, rather than to the actual content publishers.
How Do I Earn Cryptocurrency Using Brave?
The premise is
simple: If you endure viewing Brave Ads (which are push notifications, rather
than on-page display ads), you can earn a fractional smidge of BAT. Conversely,
if you want to get past a site’s paywall and view it ad-free, you contribute a
bit of BAT to the site.
After using
the browser for a couple hours, I found I had earned 7 cents, so while it’s not
something to quit your day job for, extrapolating that to several hours per day
could help stuff your digital piggybank. In any case, the intention of the
cryptocurrency is to fund information sites, rather than to earn you a living.
Find out how to set all this up below.
Brave Buzz
Brave has been
in the tech news of late for both good and bad reasons. First, the good:
comedian, podcaster, and TV personality Joe Rogan gave the browser a
boost, saying he prefers it along with the DuckDuckGo search engine compared
with Google’s offerings. “They’re not looking in your underwear. They’re not
checking under your fingernails,” said Rogan.
On the
downside, a Twitter user found that if you type certain cryptocurrency site
addresses in, the URL was changed to one that provided Brave with an affiliate link. Though this doesn’t differ
greatly from what Chrome and other browsers do, Brave CEO Brendan Eich stated
“The autocomplete default was inspired by search query clientid attribution
that all browsers do, but unlike keyword queries, a typed-in URL should go to
the domain named, without any additions. Sorry for this mistake-we are clearly
not perfect, but we correct course quickly.” This seems like an issue that,
while providing one Twitter user with a “gotcha” moment, isn’t significant for
most users, and it doesn’t impact privacy-or your ability to earn BAT
cryptocurrency and fix the ad mess on webpages.
Download and Install the Brave
Browser
You get it from Brave.com. Installers are
available for Windows, macOS, and Linux (Debian 9+, Ubuntu 14.04+ and Mint 17+
distros). It’s a tiny download that in turn downloads and installs the browser
software, similar to the way other Chromium browsers do. On the disk, the browser takes up 495MB on installation; not exactly lithe, but Chrome does the same.
Get Acquainted with Brave
There’s a welcome slideshow that takes you through importing bookmarks,
ad blocking, setting search engine (DuckDuckGo is recommended, as a
privacy-protecting option), and Brave Rewards. That last one will be our focus,
as that’s where the Basic Attention Token crypto usage comes in.
Enable
Rewards
Enabling rewards is accomplished with a simple click of a button.
You’re then ready to earn, buy, or spend BAT crypto. You have two basic options
to enable or disable: Ads and Auto-Contribute. If you turn on the Ads switch,
you will earn BAT by viewing ads on participating sites. If you turn on
Auto-Contribute, participating sites you visit will receive BAT you’ve earned
or bought.
Browse and Earn!
Notice the panel on the right of this browser home screen that says,
“You’re getting paid to view this background image.” That’s because it’s a
sponsored image, in this case from BlockFi.com. You’ll see your BAT balance on
your home page under Brave Rewards. Note that the ads that earn you BAT are not
the standard webpage ads; you can still block those with Brave’s ad blocker.
They also don’t track you the way the standard ads do and are less invasive.
Contribute to YouTube Channel
The red triangle at top right is
key to the BAT rewards system: Note the blue check mark here; that means the
site accepts BAT. After clicking that, you see the dropdown panel shown above.
There you can add the site to your contributions, or remove it.
Tipping Is Allowed
Verify Your Wallet (Optional)
You can earn and contribute with BAT without signing up for anything.
But if you want to cash in your BAT or contribute to your account with funds
from other sources, you need to verify your wallet through Uphold, a highly
rated digital currency broker. Uphold even offers a debit MasterCard that you
can back with crypto.
As with most
things online, you start by entering an email and password. Uphold also needs
your country and state, in order to comply with local laws. Unfortunately, it’s
not licensed to trade crypto in New York, though it’s in the process of getting
approved. To complete the account creation, you need to enter your real name,
birth date, and phone number. You also need to snap a photo of your ID and of
your face; this sounds intrusive, but it’s standard for crypto brokers, and
you’re not under any compulsion to even create an account.
Get Rewards from the TAP Network
Gift cards for Amazon, Walmart, Uber, and many more can be yours if you
purchase them using your BAT balance in Brave. This also requires setting up a
TAP account and connecting it with your verified Uphold account.
Set Up a Crypto Wallet
Create
a new Brave local wallet to access dApps and store crypto and collectibles
securely. Trade tokens anonymously with no trading fees.
Slightly confusingly, this crypto wallet is completely separate from
the BAT Rewards program. It simply lets you store crypto in the browser or
connect hardware wallets from Ledger and Trezor. To create a wallet, you just
need an email address and password. You’ll be shown a secret phrase of many
words, which you need to secure, say in a LastPass secure note. I only saw BAT
and Ethereum in the wallet. I was able to deposit $5 worth of Ethereum into the
wallet (0.0243ETH at the time) using the QR code on my Brave wallet.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t convert this into BAT, but I could use it on the web.
