Google Chrome is the end game when it comes to internet browsing. With close to 60% of the internet share, this browser is here to stay. However, it seems that Brave browser, a decentralized application built on the Ethereum blockchain, could be one of the best Chrome alternatives worth considering.
A renowned magazine, Popular Science, recently listed Brave Browser together with Opera and Firefox as alternative browsers that beat Chrome and Safari at their own game.
The Brave browser was developed by Brendan Eich, the founder of JavaScript and former CEO of Mozilla. It is a transparent, secure and offers an ad-free browsing experience. The browser is available for Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android.
With the Brave browser, users have full control over the information and advertisements displayed to them. Even JavaScript like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and all other website trackers can be blocked. It also makes it harder for advertisers to build anonymous profiles of users.
Ethereum dApps
The browser itself is an open-source project and is built on top of the Chromium that Google’s owned Chrome is based on. However, Brave utilizes an ERC20 token, the Basic Attention Token (BAT), to improve digital advertising efficiency via a token that users, publishers, and advertisers can all exchange using the Ethereum blockchain.
According to a recent article by Cryptoglobe, Brave recently reached 4 million monthly active users, 26,000 publishers, and 21,000 verified channels. The blog added that the app has now been downloaded over 10 million times from Google’s Play Store.
Eich projects the number of monthly active users to reach 12 million by 2019.
The fact that Brave and BAT are based on Ethereum blockchain and are considered as a great alternative is greatly optimistic, especially given that Chrome and Safari have dominated the browser industry for quite a long time.
While it’s difficult to classify Brave as a decentralized app because it is built on the same protocol as Chrome, it still runs on Ethereum and touts its own token that makes it competitive.