Are wrinkles displayed on an old man's face illustrating years worth of wisdom or years full of hard headedness? Let's find out with a quick Brave Browser Review.
A 66 Year Old Man.
My husband's old man is a "See To Believe" type of guy. He's almost impossible to convince of most things, because he purports to have seen almost everything in his 66 years of surviving in our uneventful earth.
He often consults others of his generation before concluding anything about anything and scrutinizes new ideas presented by a younger generation.
I'm of the opinion that new ideas can sometimes be good and healthy to embrace. Yet, the truth is, I have no idea how to encourage older generations to embrace them with me.
And that's how this story commences:
The Economic Inquiries.
Occasionally, my father-in-law asks us how we are doing financially. To be honest, in some contexts this can come off as rude, however, in our family unit it is considered okay since it's an underlying assumption that there is no ill intent in asking, it's mostly asked to make sure we're doing alright.
All things considered, I try to answer discreetly since I don't want him to think we're making tons of money off of our entrepreneurial and crypto adoption endevours. Hehe. Because we're not, except on the rare occasion when those juicy airdrops fly by and we happen to snatch one.
Now, my husband is a bit more open about his projects. On many occasions he has attempted explaining to his Pa how crypto adoption works, what bitcoin is, etc. With the intent to onboard him onto a cryptocurrency experience that will benefit him economically. My husband explains how we're benefiting from cryptocurrencies and crypto adoption platforms and yet, my father-in-law is a hard man to convince.
He says that in his youth because authority figures were given more credibility, then, they had a better opportunity of fixing things without too much criticism holding them back.
This was a hard argument for me to swallow since it appeared like he was implying that government mistrust is unwarranted. However, the internet age has really shed light upon unlawful governmental activity and in part has contributed to many people's weariness towards their leaders.
In case you're wondering, this is where crypto tech comes in handy. We just have keep working to onboard more and more people in a proficient way.
Now: Addressing Some Disparaging Remarks.
Once in a while my 66 year old father-in-law makes comments about how he came across an article of scammers using bitcoin to rip people off. "Do you want the link?" He asks....
Another time he remarks that bitcoin is an economical bubble. Simply put, when Bitcoin dipped not too long ago, he triumphantly declared, "The bubble popped!" Hehehe
I don't get mad because I know he's had his share of economic hardships due to fiat. Here in Mexico we had an economic peso crisis in 1994.
Wondering what that was? It was a devaluation of MXN peso due to investors pulling out (dumping). Selling their MXN and converting it to USD due to political instability here in Mexico in 1994.
Those who couldn't sell out, that's to say, the mexican people, the average Jose got stuck with an inflation that caused a lot of hunger and personal financial poverty.
Yes, you read that right. Fiat currencies work similar to cryptocurrencies in the sense that FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) also takes a toll by reducing the value of the coin.
Coming back to the other day, after a long conversation about crypto adoption, my father-in-law concluded that he didn't like cryptocurrencies because they simply weren't tangible.
Like I previously mentioned: He's a see it to believe it type of guy. ;D
So, I started to wonder and ponder about what would prove cryptocurrencies to be "Tangible"?
Resisting the change and acceptance of a Brave Browser download.
Well, it just so happened that a while back my husband secretly installed the Brave browser download on both his parents' computers and hid chrome. Hehehe
(Author's note: Only do this if you have a close relationship with your parents and you understand each other. lol. I don't want to encourage any behavior that'll cause harm to relationships.)
When they realized that chrome was nowhere to be found, theeeeeey roared like a lionness protecting it's cubs, "You broke my computer!", "Where is my YouTube?", and "Where's my Duolingo?!"
Consequently, he explained to them the changes and the benefits of the Brave browser download and the using of Brave Browser itself. You get paid crypto in the form of BAT token every month when you enable ad watching!
Simply put, Brave browser blocks outside ads and has it's own ad system. Brands pay for a Brave browser ad campaign and in turn Brave pays it's users a part of that revenue in the form of BAT tokens to watch the ads. For the most part, the ads I have seen are crypto and tech related.
By the way, check out the recent mobile upgrades. You can now do group tabs.
Well, fast forward a couple of months from the installation of Brave Browser and my husband checked in front of his dad, his BAT token rewards balance.
He had a whooping 3 USD worth of BAT token priced at 1.09 USD per BAT. Which is about 59 MXN pesos, I know it may not seem like much but it's enough to buy 10 bus rides on the current bus fair for the elderly. ;)
Or also 1 hours worth of minimum wage here in Mexico.
More importantly, there was a prolonged silence that no one wanted to break. Lol.
(Author's note: We didn't want to say, "I told you so!" And he didn't want to out right admit that, "Yeah, maybe crypto can be 'Tangible'.")
Until he finally broke the silence with a more light hearted tone of voice and asked, "Sooo, how do I withdraw that money?" Hahahaha. ;D
Alright now, roll in the review:
Overall, I can see that Brave Browser properly offers its users a way to protect personal information from the overpowering advertising industry.
The user interface is satisfying, and its tracker blocking software does make it faster. Just to give you an idea, I have about 27 tabs open and I don't perceive any lag at this moment.
In comparison to the alternative browsers I've used such as: Vivaldi, Opera, and Yandex. I prefer Brave Browser over all.
Sounds good, right?
Well, that's not the whole story...
My Brave Browser pet peeve: BAT Token, Why at this moment I'm not so bullish on Brave Browser
So, just to clarify, this browser is the best of its kind but it has one major flaw: Withdrawal of BAT token.
The truth is, this is something that I haven't seen many people criticize as much as it should be, probably due to conflict of interests. Most reviews on Brave Browser include an affiliate link. However, now that the affilliate progam has been closed off for new sign ups, I'm hoping we see more call outs on this:
The only way to withdraw BAT Tokens is via their partner Uphold wallet which has a very rigorous KYC requirement.
Don't take my word for it, here's Uphold themselves:
And robust is such an understatement, check out all the KYC you have to go through just to cash out your BAT tokens:
Well, why is KYC such a big deal?
Allow me to share a couple of tweets with you to illustrate my point.
Ironically, Brave co-founder and CEO Brendan Eich asks, "Who owns your attention? Who owns your web browsing experience? Who gets paid? If not you, then you're [the] "product" Time to get paid."
Well here's the kicker, if Brave is so big on privacy then why do we have to do KYC to get paid?
That's why I found Alex Van de Sande's tweet so relatable with a bit of humor:
For those who have done the KYC, you could potentially be tracked to some extent via your Uphold wallet.
PROS:
- Good User interface
- Blocks software that tracks you and sells your info to third party marketing companies
- Thor private browsing
CONS:
- KYC to withdraw BAT
But wait, here's the good news: Brave is working on a DEX!
To Brave Browser's defense, they have announced they will be releasing a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) to the browsing experience.
In about 12-16 months from now, we'll be seeing a DEX roll out that will allow us to exchange BAT with other cryptocurrencies.
I think this is a great step towards decentralization! But, what about all the content creators who had to sell their identity for a couple of BATs a month?
Coming back around to my father-in-law's question:
How do you withdraw BAT tokens?
At the moment I personally haven't done the KYC and I don't recommend anyone do it.
The best option will be to HODL your BAT tokens until the DEX is released and then attempt to withdraw, IF they make it available.
It'll be a fantastic way to onboard friends and family to crypto. They'll learn how to use a DEX and they'll have a tangible way to use their BAT tokens anyway they want, without having to do an intrusive KYC.
Brave will be their first crypto faucet! ;D
To the point:
We're all looking for ways to onboard people to crypto. It's brought value to our lives and we want to share it with those we love.
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