Brendan Eich on How Brave Is Working to Decentralize - Ep.155

Brendan Eich, CEO and president of Brave, discusses his history in tech prior to crypto, including working at Netscape, how he created Javascript in 10 days and his short stint as CEO of Mozilla, what problems with ads that Brave is trying to solve, and why Brave needs the Basic Attention Token. He explains why Bitcoin wouldn't work for cryptocurrencies on the platform, why they use BAT over stablecoins, and how Brave strips ads from publishers' webpages, but doesn't from Facebook or Google, and how it causes collateral damage to publishers. He talks about how the browser is a middleman, how Brave works with Uphold and why it doesn't require KYC unless the users wants to cash out on his or her Brave rewards. He also explains why he isn't worried that BAT could meet the four prongs of the Howey test, what it will look like when Basic Attention Token is decentralized and why he doesn't know if publishers are earning back in BAT the ad revenue that Brave blocks.
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Episode links:
Brendan Eich: https://twitter.com/BrendanEich
Brave: https://brave.com/
Basic Attention Token: https://basicattentiontoken.org/
BAT white paper: https://basicattentiontoken.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/BasicAttentionTokenWhitePaper-4.pdf
Brave Rewards: https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360027276731-Brave-Rewards-FAQ
Brave privacy policy: https://brave.com/privacy/
https://brave.com/privacy/#dev-detail
BAT Growth: https://batgrowth.com
Publishers on BAT: https://batgrowth.com/publishers/website
Brendan Eich admits Brave is semi-decentralized: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/11/23/brave-blockchain-cryptocurrency-browser/
How Brave hurts publishers: https://practicaltypography.com/the-cowardice-of-brave.html
Publishers send cease and desist to Brave: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-browser-brave-responds-cease-desist
Whether BAT is necessary for Brave: https://micky.com.au/just-3-9-of-brave-browser-users-have-bat-in-their-wallets/
BAT ICO: https://www.coindesk.com/35-million-30-seconds-token-sale-internet-browser-brave-sells
Vitalik blog post on token sales: https://vitalik.ca/general/2017/06/09/sales.html
BAT roadmap: https://basicattentiontoken.org/bat-roadmap-1-0/