Brave Web3 Browser
Kicking off the intro to Web3 series with an overview of the popular Brave browser. With its chromium base and the right set of features wrapped around it, it’s a great way to start your journey into Web3.
Let's run through its key features for browsing the decentralized internet.
Brave Shields
To protect users while navigating Web2, Brave enables a series of tracking protections (shields) to limit user tracking and block personalized ads targeting the users. The shields are enabled by default but can be managed per site and disabled to restore any desired site functionality impacted.
So it’s not Web3, but it’s a way of browsing Web2 while embracing the tenants of Web3, like anonymity and control. Brave shields are a safe initial step toward Web3.
Brave Rewards
The downside of blocking ads is harming the contributors who rely on those advertisements to reward them for providing you with content. To address this, Brave offers an alternative via BAT (Basic Attention Tokens), which can be auto-contributed to the pages you view.
Instead of personalized ads based on tracking, the user sees ads targeting the generalized pool data of all Brave users. This model provides users with the ability to control the quantity of the ads they see and either manually distributes the BAT tokens to contributors they view or use the auto-contribute function to have Brave provide them based on your attention to verified contributors.
Brave Wallet
To authenticate on Web3, users will need an account in a crypto wallet. While the Metamask extension provides this functionality, Brave has recently launched the Brave Wallet integrated natively into the Brave Browser.
The Brave Wallet offers a solid set of features, like Ledger and Trezor hardware wallet support, integration of live market data from CoinGecko and support for Ethereum and EVM compatible networks (Polygon, Avalanche, etc.).
Brave references the increased security by removing the risk of installing a compromised application from the chrome web store, but I highly recommend pairing the Brave Wallet with a Ledger or Trezor wallet for increased security.
Always purchase a hardware wallet direct from the manufacturer. Follow my affiliate link to view options from Ledger.
IPFS Support
The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a technology that hosts content across decentralized nodes. Web2 content is hosted on centralized servers and accessed via HTTPS, but IPFS content is accessed by a content hash, known as a Content Identifier (CID).
Brave supports using either a local node for IPFS resolution or a 3rd party gateway. I recommend reading the blog post by Brave for more information about IPFS support.
Native IPFS opens the door to the decentralized internet. You can start by viewing my quick page with this link:
ipfs://QmYSfZNMrooiu6AGQWYTgsE5XweQou4GuQbbWzzjfdToRr/
Unstoppable Domain support
Unstoppable Domains is a blockchain name provider that provides decentralized name resolution. Domains are purchased for life for as low as 20$ and offer .crypto, .wallet, .nft and .bitcoin extensions. Use my referral link to get 10$ off when you spend 40$.
Unstoppable Domains provides access to the growing ecosystem of decentralized websites. You can start with DTube, a decentralized video platform or search decentralized websites on Blockscan.
Conclusion
The Brave browsers provide a robust Web3 experience, and I highly recommend trying it for an extended period and seeing what you take away from it. The official download link is here.
Disclaimer: Brave’s reputation took a big hit with the affiliate links scandal, where it was uncovered that Brave was replacing search links with their affiliate links. See this verge article for more information: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology.