I switched from Firefox to Brave about 5 weeks ago, after Firefox released the new Android version that is unusable. I don't want to use different browsers on different platforms - I want my Linux, Windows, and Android all the same browser and synced. So far it's been great. I looked at the cross-platform alternatives, but wasn't happy (Vivaldi on desktop UI is very clunky, for example). I don't even care about BAT or Brave Rewards, the basic Chromium based Brave browser is solid.

Some three years back they used someone's identity to promote their browser. The guy in question is the one beitish person who used to make videos for Computerphile, forgot his name, sorry. The BAT is worthless and I don't believe it's a healthy incentive for anything but that's just my opinion (it is better than the alternative though, that's for sure). Other than that it's a fine browser but it seems conflicted when you look at its apparent goals.

So you consider it a solid browser, and the BATs are just a plus?

Pretty sure that’s Tom Scott

I love it. It's the lightest way to have an ad free experience. And finally, after years of complaining, they added a working sync, so now bookmarks/logins/histories can sync, if that's your thing. To me, it is by far the fastest browser on both mobile(Android) and desktop(Linux).

It’s my daily driver. It’s great on iPhone, too. I recently had to poke around on my wife’s iPhone, and was amazed at how terrible the experience was in a normal browser.

Privacy wise, it seems top notch, from what I've read.

However, I don't understand their business model. This is what I understood so far, please correct me if I'm wrong:

- They created 1.5M BATs;

- Brave users can fund their wallet, or earn BATs by viewing ads;

- Brave users can also tip the websites they visit;

- Once a month, they will split the BATs I earned accordingly by each website I visited(is there proof this happens?);

- Brave users will eventually be able to withdraw their BATs;

I realize this is very simplified, please correct me if I'm wrong.

How does Brave make money? I've read reports about Brave inserting refferal links in their homepage, but can't confirm this.

> Brave users can fund their wallet, or earn BATs by viewing ads;

This is where the money making happens, and where actual money enters the BAT economy. Those BATs you get for watching ads have to come from somewhere; advertisers effectively pay for the BATs they give you with real money (I'm not positive whether the advertisers literally buy BAT to give you, or if they just pay Brave and Brave conjures them out of the air). My guess is that they'll make money on service fees on money entering or leaving BAT. Maybe a % service charge on advertisers buying BAT, or the same thing but on websites cashing out.

I imagine they'll diversify and might make some income from referral links or other miscellaneous revenue streams, but I would expect the vast bulk of their revenue to relate directly to advertising and BAT.

So, something like advertisers paying them to display their ads?

Yes, see https://brave.com/brave-ads/. We take flat 30% of gross paid to us.

They created 1.5B BAT

"- Once a month, they will split the BATs I earned accordingly by each website I visited(is there proof this happens?);"

Right now if a website is not Brave verified, that donation intent just sits in local storage and re-attempts itself for some period of time.

Brave makes money by being the ad regulator and distributor. If a publisher spends X on ad spend, users get 0.7x distributed back and Brave keeps the delta.

Advertisers can pay in BAT or just send Brave fiat and they'll purchase BAT on the open market as shown here: https://brave.com/transparency/.

(Not affiliated with Brave/BAT, just a satisfied Brave user)

Thank you for clarifying that.

What about withdrawing rewards? Is Uphold still the only option? And is it safe?

Gemini is coming up, creators already can use it (this gets NY state service) and users to follow. Also bitFlyer for Japan.

What about European users? Will there be any trouble withdrawing funds? I'm for Portugal, if that helps somehow.

Uphold already covers Portugal.

Thanks!

I strongly disagree with Eich's politics so I'll never use Brave as long as he profits from it.

I think that it is pretty unlikely that Google, Apple amd Mozilla don't employ a single person you would consider a heretic.

Or maybe you're using curl and a trusty terminal.

Could you elaborate on why you disagree?

Maybe they're talking about his support for Prop 8 in 2014 which resulted in him leaving Mozilla. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich#Appointment_to_CE...

Oh, I took "politics" to mean how he runs the company. Not literally. My bad. I remember this.