Watching ads with this web browser now pays for HBO, Hulu

[Mercury]

Since launching in 2018, Brave's privacy-focused browser promised real world use for its BAT token. Now it wants to make it easier.

IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK

If you use the Brave internet browser, you’ll now be able to buy a Starbucks coffee, ride in an Uber, or pay for HBO and Hulu subscriptions with the reward you reap from viewing ads.

Brave Software, the company behind the privacy-focused, Google Chrome fork Brave, announced on Tuesday a partnership with the TAP Network, which will allow users to redeem Basic Attention Token (BAT) rewards from over 250,000 major brands in the US.

The browser, which uses a “blockchain-based advertising model,” gives users 70 percent of revenue share through its BAT, according to Brave. Now users who earn BAT can redeem those tokens through the TAP Network for gift cards at various retailers—but only if those users have verified their wallets with crypto exchange Uphold.

“This partnership with TAP Network supports our mission of connecting consumers and brands in a respectful, mutually beneficial way, and contributes to the growth of our overall ecosystem by expanding the utility of BAT,” Brendan Eich, co-founder and CEO of Brave Software, said in a press release.

According to Eich, this all lines up with Brave’s privacy-centric mission. All users need to do to start buying gift cards with BAT is connect their Uphold accounts to the TAP Network. Some Brave users may not find that so easy though, given the complaints BAT holders have levied against Uphold’s “insane [KYC] verification process.”

While Brave said it had rolled out the real-world rewards functionality for desktop users, with a general release expected within 8 weeks, it isn’t clear whether it will enable this function through other exchanges. (Brave did not immediately respond to our questions, but we’ll update if it does.)

The company, whose browser now boasts 12 million monthly active users (according to its own figures), initially announced its intention to “go the full distance towards ecommerce” last year. As of December, the company said it had partnered with 350,000 publishers to integrate BAT rewards, which users can use to tip publishers.

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