Dow Jones Media Trials ‘Brave’ Blockchain Browser
The ‘Brave‘ blockchain browser, designed for privacy and security, gains traction with trials by Dow Jones Media, a worldwide news and information powerhouse, that include brands such as The Wall Street Journal.
The aim of the Partnership is to experiment with a blockchain content delivery system for digital advertising, on which ‘Dow Jones Media’, Barron’s and MarketWatch will become “verified publishers.”
Created by Brendan Eich and a prestigious team of technical minds, the Brave browser launched in 2016 for developers, offering users the choice to select or block Ads and trackers. The website states:
“Brave is on a mission to fix the web by giving users a safer, faster and better browsing experience – while growing support for content creators through a new attention-based ecosystem of rewards”
However, back in 2016, a total of 17 members of the Newspaper Association of America, sent cease-and-desist letters to Brave Software, arguing that its browser was illegal.
Although a seemingly large task, Eich’s impressive resume suggests he is ‘the man for the job’, as creator of the JavaScript programming language and co-founder of Mozilla Foundation with the Firefox browser.
Eich is also the founder of Basic Attention Token (BAT), which launched its ICO on May 31, 2017 raising $35 million in just 30 seconds. BAT is described as a:
“utility token based on the Ethereum technology that can also be used as a unit of account between advertisers, publishers, and users in a new, blockchain-based digital advertising and services platform”.
The company also revealed last year, that it planned to integrate a micropayments system into the platform, that measures user attention and rewards publishers proportionately. Eich said in a statement:
“Our new model reconnects users and publishers without compromising privacy,”
According to a press release, the partnership will offer and allow access to Barron’s and MarketWatch premium content through the Brave blockchain browser, that currently has approximately 2 million users.
Daniel Bernard, Senior Vice President of Barron’s said:
“As global digital publishers, we believe it is important to continually explore new and emerging technologies that can be used to build quality customer experiences.”
Brave’s partnership with Dow Jones Media Group, marks a significant change in media companies relationship with data and privacy. The Washington Post, the Guardian and Vice are among the publishers who now accept BAT.
