Brave Wallet now supports Bitcoin
With Brave v1.63 on desktop, Brave Wallet users can now create Native SegWit Bitcoin accounts, offering lower transaction fees and better error detection.
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Today we’re announcing the highly requested and long-awaited rollout of self-custody BAT payouts for Brave Rewards. An initial group of invitees—and soon Brave users around the world—will be able to receive BAT earned from Brave Rewards to a self-custody wallet address on the Solana blockchain.
Rewards on Solana is launching as an invite-only feature, starting with a limited group of early participants. Brave will send out invitations via a notification in the Brave Rewards panel. This invitation will unlock the ability for users to connect a self-custody Solana address and start receiving BAT on-chain. To find out if you’re eligible, keep an eye on Brave Rewards in your Brave browser.
To connect a Solana address to Brave Rewards, you’ll use a Solana wallet to verify that you own the address. You can do this with Brave’s very own integrated wallet, Brave Wallet, or with a third-party browser extension like Phantom.
Once connected, monthly BAT rewards will be deposited directly on-chain to your Solana address in Wormhole-bridged SPL-BAT. That means you’ll be able to receive earned BAT without a custodial account (though the option to receive BAT rewards via a custodian will remain available).
We chose Solana as the ideal network for the launch of on-chain Brave Rewards given its high transaction speed and low fees, which help reduce the costs associated with distributing BAT earnings to hundreds of thousands of users. For example, a single transaction on Solana costs on average $0.002 USD, while a single transaction on Ethereum, or on its most popular layer-2 scaling solution, Arbitrum, costs on average $1.00 and $0.10 respectively.
This new way of distributing BAT removes many of the barriers everyday people face when onboarding to Web3. There are no withdrawal fees or limits, since the Solana wallet is entirely owned and managed by the user. Users can earn and receive BAT directly on-chain, and use it on-chain however they like. For example, here are some great ways BAT can be used on Solana:
We also recently announced a new on-chain contributions feature as a more Web3-native way for users to support their favorite creators, including with the SPL-BAT they earn. Supporting self custody for users and creators is an important step toward a more decentralized Brave Rewards and Brave Creators experience. Together, they further our mission of providing users with greater control over how they browse, search, and transact on the Web.
Keep an eye on our blog, social accounts, and Brave Community forums for the latest news from Brave, and announcements about new rounds of Solana on-chain invites.
With Brave v1.63 on desktop, Brave Wallet users can now create Native SegWit Bitcoin accounts, offering lower transaction fees and better error detection.
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