Brave browser to integrate dedicated Binance Smart Chain DeFi wallet

The privacy-centric web browser Brave will soon integrate a dedicated Binance Smart Chain, or BSC, wallet, according to a recent announcement. This allows the browser’s users to open up to BSC’s ecosystem of decentralized finance, or DeFi, products.

Although Brave can already be configured to jump onto BSC manually, the addition of a preconfigured wallet is expected to simplify the process, requiring no special apps, wallets or additional tinkering.

In the meantime, the token at the center of the Brave browser, Basic Attention Token (BAT), has been made compatible with BSC in the form of Wrapped BAT (WBAT). Wrapping is the process where a blockchain ecosystem uses special tokens to facilitate the compatibility of different assets on another blockchain ecosystem. The most common example may be Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) on Ethereum, where Bitcoin uses these tokens to be compatible with the processes of Ethereum, expanding its use.

“Our hope is that BAT and Brave will take crypto mainstream and to make DeFi user-friendly for the mass market,” said the CEO and co-founder of Brave, Brendan Eich.

Brave reportedly has over 25 million active monthly users, and over 7 million daily active users. The browser emerged as an alternative to mainstream browsers by offering increased privacy, less tracking and the ability to opt-in to the advertisements of a user’s choosing.

BSC ecosystem coordinator Xiaoguang Zhang echoed Eich’s sentiments that the integration of BSC into Brave would further inspire DeFi and crypto adoption.

“With this strategic integration between the Brave browser and Binance Smart Chain, we will introduce seamless UX together for crypto users to access DeFi and Dapps in BSC and other blockchains, which will dramatically inspire mass adoption and inclusive finance,” said Zhang.

Like many altcoins, the value of BAT surged to a new all-time high in 2021. Between January and March alone, BAT gained 515% against the U.S dollar, climbing from around $0.20 to $1.27 by the time of publication.