The popular Web3 browser, Brave Browser, has added its support of the major private network, Tor. The most important of these features is the introduction of bridges in the private browsing mode. The other, the Snowflake extension, is rather complementary but may prove to be just as useful as the first.
Brave users can now use bridges for private windows with Tor by enabling them at brave://settings/privacy. Bridges let people access the Tor network even when their government is blocking connections to the network. pic.twitter.com/vcl3GLUmbz
— Brave Software (@brave) January 12, 2023
The browser’s Twitter handles announced this update on Thursday, January 12th. “…we’ve added two other Tor features to our browser to ensure Internet users across the world can privately connect to the uncensored Web,” the tweet says.
Bridges allow users in countries where the Tor network is banned from accessing it. While users had previously been able to access the Tor network in the affected countries, their governments discovered and banned the network quickly.
Shortly after, requests for bridges to be implemented peaked.
Luckily, with the new Brave update, users will be able to circumvent these restrictions by enabling some settings. Brave has also added the snowflake extension to facilitate access to the Tor network further. You can volunteer to help people access Tor through your network by enabling the extension in the browser settings.
Furthermore, Brave is well known for allowing users to trade and buy cryptocurrencies from a private network, Tor. It’s a first-generation Web3 browser that helps people in countries with strict internet regulations have access to blocked sites. Using Tor, people in China and North Korea, controversial states are known for their tight web limitations, can access media from the rest of the world and trade crypto and other Defi assets.
Although the browser was created in 2016, it became highly popular in 2019 when its first stable version was launched. Since then, Brave has been used by millions of Defi enthusiasts and is considered a web3 pioneer. Introducing bridges and the snowflake extension, it’s paving the way for complete global decentralization.
The future looks bright for Brave as it’s bound to gain more popularity and attract more users. Last year, its average monthly users were capped at 50 million users, generating over $100k from app downloads. Arguably, a reasonable percentage of these people use the app for $BAT mining, that is, earning the browser’s native token from surfing the internet with it and completing tasks.
Nonetheless, many people use Brave solely for its privacy features. And with the introduction of these new Tor features, this number will likely increase.