Brave’s International Referral Program Hits Major Roadblocks

Published at: June 12, 2020

Crypto-powered web browser, Brave, has halted its referral program for users in China, Russia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ukraine after detecting “a high number of fraudulent referrers” in those regions, according to a June 11 announcement. 

Brave’s referral program allows content makers to earn Basic Attention Token (BAT) — utility tokens that run on the Ethereum blockchain — for getting new users to download the browser via unique referral codes. 

While the program was initially capped at $1 million USD worth of BAT tokens, it has now done “several times that amount”, Brave's statement alleges, stressing that the scheme has been a key part of its worldwide growth:

“The ability for Brave supporters to share the browser directly has led to unprecedented success, helping grow the Brave user-base to more than 15 million monthly active users worldwide.”

Over the course of the past few months, Brave has detected “a high number of fraudulent referrers” in “a small set of regions”. The web browser was reportedly able to put a hold on this activity before any BAT tokes were paid out, halting the referral program effective Thursday June 11. 

According to Brave, the changes are temporary, as the company hopes to resume the program for those countries “in the near future”. Moreover, content makers will now be asked to verify their ID before using the referral program. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Brave for additional details, but received no reply as of press time. This story will be updated, should a response come in.

Binance affiliate link autofill issue

Earlier this month, Brave found itself in hot water when reports surfaced that the browser was automatically filling an affiliate link into its address bar when a user attempts to access the website for Binance and its United States-arm Binance.US.

Brave’s co-founder and chief executive, Brendan Eich, soon acknowledged the “mistake,” pledging to fix the issue. 

Approved by Joe Rogan and BTS

Brave’s popularity has been surging lately, possibly in connection with recent endorsements by podcast host Joe Rogan and the renowned K-pop band BTS.

Tags
Technology
Web3
Privacy
Fraud
Related Posts
Concerns around data privacy are rising, and blockchain is the solution
Today’s consumers are willing to trade their data for personalization but have fast-growing concerns about data privacy. In a survey from a digital security and credential issuance company Entrust, only 21% of the respondents trust established global brands to keep their personal information secure. As data privacy pressure on Big Tech increases, these companies are starting to make significant investments in security solutions. Regulations around the world are evolving rapidly Last year, as more and more people spent time at home due to COVID-19 lockdowns, internet usage went up. And as usage has gone up, so too has consumer awareness …
Decentralization / Aug. 22, 2021
Brave browser active user base doubled in 2020, hits 25M per month
Brave, the privacy-centric web browser built on Basic Attention Token (BAT), more than doubled the size of its user base over the course of 2020. The browser’s monthly active users increased from 11.6 million to 25.4 million, according to a recent press release. Brave blocks ads and stops websites from tracking users’ movements around the internet while rewarding them with BAT tokens for the attention they do choose to give to advertisers. These tokens can be used to reward content creators and publishers via the browser’s in-built wallet or can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies. The browser’s daily active user …
Technology / Feb. 2, 2021
Browser cookies are not consent: The new path to privacy after EU data regulation fail
The endless cookie settings that pop up for every website feel a bit like prank compliance by an internet hell-bent on not changing. It is very annoying. And it feels a little bit like revenge on regulators by the data markets, giving the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) a bad name and so that it might seem like political bureaucrats have, once again, clumsily interfered with the otherwise smooth progress of innovation. The truth is, however, that the vision of privacy put forward by the GDPR would spur a far more exciting era of innovation than current-day sleaze-tech. As it …
Decentralization / Dec. 5, 2021
Decentralized technology will end the Web3 privacy conundrum
Although the modern internet connects us like never before, one thing that younger generations have never truly experienced is the feeling of genuine privacy. Even older generations have forgotten what life was like before our every thought and action were tracked. Web3 envisions an open, trustless, permissionless internet where users can interact with each other peer-to-peer without giving up ownership control, privacy or relying on intermediaries. Underlying that vision, blockchains are one of the most important tools. They eliminate the need for trusted third parties and help to create a direct relationship between users and service providers, recording the rules …
Technology / Jan. 30, 2022
Digital identity platform integrates with zkSync for on-chain KYC
RNS.id, a digital Web3 identity platform developed to support the application and issuance of sovereignty-backed IDs, announced on Nov. 30 that it is integrating with zkSync for on-chain KYC. RNS.ID indicated in a release shared with Cointelegraph that its on-chain KYC solution is designed on a “privacy engine” to encrypt users' identity attributes or properties into different “hashed slices” with multiple signature verifications. RNS.ID aggregates users’ fragmented identity properties data and uses ZK-proofs to generate encrypted proofs from metadata. Additionally, the company stated that RNS.ID enables users to create their own "minimal disclosure identifying information system" for constrained usages, thereby …
Technology / Nov. 30, 2022