The cryptocurrency-powered Brave browser, founded by JavaScript creator and Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich, has recently passed the 3 million monthly active user mark, and is reportedly growing at a pace that will see it hit 5 million users before the end of this year.
According to a recently published blog post, the browser is also one of the top 10 apps on Android’s Google Play store on the “free communication apps” category. It achieved this rank in 21 countries, including the US, Canada, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, and South Korea.
Notably, the Brave browser has over 18,000 verified publishers accepting its Basic Attention Token (BAT), out of which 4,500 are websites and 13,500 are YouTubers. The token was launched last year through an initial coin offering (ICO) that raised $35 million and lasted little over 30 seconds, as investors paid exorbitant fees to get their transactions through.
The browser, which blocks ads and third-party trackers to benefit users – was affected by MailChimp’s move to ban cryptocurrency-related ads. Per its post, it’s switching its email service provider to ensure its newsletters get to users.
As CryptoGlobe covered, Brave recently partnered with Dow Jones to trial the BAT, in a move that saw Barron’s and MarketWatch become verified publishers. In its recent announcement, the company noted it may soon rollout its advertising program – which is being trialed – to all users.
It’s also running a referral program to increase its userbase. The post reads:
Refer your audience to Brave and earn $5 per referral to further support your content. If you have 100,000 followers and 1% of them switch to Brave, that could mean $5,000 in your account!
Brave’s BAT token may be listed by popular San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, along with a few others. The exchange has revealed it’s “considering adding” several tokens, but noted this doesn’t mean it will.
Eich’s company may, however, be about to face competition for the attention of cryptocurrency enthusiasts as cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain – valued at $12 billion – recently invested $50 million in the Opera browser’s IPO.
Opera, as covered, has recently introduced a mobile browser for Android with a built-in cryptocurrency wallet that supports Ethereum (ETH) and decentralized applications.
