Brave enhances it privacy browser with built-in secure crypto wallet
posted Sunday Nov 21, 2021 by Scott Ertz
It has been an interesting week for privacy products expanding their focus. DuckDuckGo announced App Tracking Protection for Android, bringing an Apple feature to Android. But DuckDuckGo isn't the only player in the space. Brave recently switched Google out for their own search product in their browser, and this week they are enhancing the browser again - with crypto.
The Brave Browser is focused on privacy and security. The company believes that it can bring that privacy and security focus to a new area of the internet: cryptocurrency. Brave Browser is introducing a cryptocurrency wallet into its core product offering. Brave Wallet, unlike other similar offerings, is not an external product added by extension - this is built directly into the browser.
While crypto wallets are a dive a dozen these days, and more accessible than ever, they have also seemingly become less secure. In addition to the tools that professional and dedicated investors, traders, and miners use, such as cold storage and encrypted hardware wallets, now were have a slew of consumer offerings as well. You can download a mobile app that works as a wallet or browser extension that does the same. But these can be less secure than what professionals use, making it easy for malicious attacks and thefts. This is where Brave believes it can improve the experience.
Because the Brave Wallet is built into the desktop browser, it prevents third parties from snooping on the data. It also limits the number of system resources needed to make it function, as it doesn't require open APIs and external processing to run.
The Brave Wallet works similarly to, and in conjunction with, other traditional crypto wallets. You get access to your wallet address, can switch between digital assets, and have easy access to send and receive funds. In addition, this wallet supports multi-chain and NFT assets, as well as direct importing of assets from other private (offline) wallets. The interface for the system also allows you to explore markets and see the current and past values of different assets.
To get started, you can open the settings for the browser and click on the Wallet tab (or go to brave://wallet/crypto/). Upon first entering, you'll enter a password to secure your wallet. Then you'll get a 12-word recovery phrase, which is traditional in crypto wallets. Save this phrase somewhere because you'll lose access to your wallet without it. To make sure you have, you'll be required to enter it again. After that you're in.
As of right now, the interface is sparse. The graphs are very basic and show just the required information. There does not appear to be any comparison charting between assets, etc. But, for an early launch product, it is solid - especially when you take into consideration that the company is working to provide a more secure system for the casual investor.
