Brave browser recently announced that the browser has exceeded 10 million monthly active users (MAUs). That is quite an accomplishment!

Pantera was one of the largest investors in Brave’s seed round in early 2016 with Founders Fund and Propel Ventures. The investment was a bet on the team (Brendan Eich was the former CEO/CTO of Mozilla and the rest were amazing engineers/individuals), the vision, and the budding (only six-figure MAUs at the time) but engaged user base. The investment thesis was that a faster, privacy-controlled, and better user experience browser with a more equitable business model would be a winning formula. What Brave accomplished right from the beginning was a browser that was orders of magnitude faster than google chrome and other similar browsers by removing ad-trackers/cookies and enabling users to maintain data privacy and control.

Since then, Brave has reached 10.4 million MAUs and and 3.3 million DAUs (daily active users).

Hitting 1 million DAUs was a big milestone for the company. Achieving 30% DAUs/MAUs is a strong key performance indicator for any consumer company, and they continue to do that. Users have a built-in cryptocurrency wallet that can receive BAT (Brave Attention Tokens, the native cryptocurrency of the Brave Browser) in exchange for viewing high-quality ads, opt-in only. Users are getting a piece of the business model which is different than other browsers. This ad model does not sacrifice the speed of the browser nor the user experience.

I’ve been a DAU of Brave Browser since the beginning, mostly on my mobile device because that’s where I do my browsing, and look forward to the evolution of its product and monetization model.

If you want to give it a try, download Brave here.

DIGESTS

Expanding the Bakkt Bitcoin Product Complex

Bitcoin Options and Cash Settled Futures Now Available.

When evaluating spot exchanges based on order book depth, Bitfinex appears the most liquid

Bitfinex has the most liquid Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP pairs.

NEWS

Privacy-focused Brave browser crosses 10M monthly active users

Privacy-focused internet browser Brave says that it has passed 10 million-mark in terms of monthly active users (MAU).

Huobi US Is Abruptly Halting Exchange Operations

HBUS, the U.S. affiliate of the Huobi Group exchange, announced Monday it would cease operations in the coming weeks.

IN THE TWEETS

Ripple@Ripple

Start your week off right—discover how the flywheel for #blockchain in #payments is set to spin faster than ever before in our latest report. Blockchain in Payments Report | RippleThe second annual Blockchain in Payments Report reveals widespread adoption of blockchain-based payments by financial services providers.bit.ly

December 9th 2019

589 Retweets1,411 Likes

Arianna Simpson@AriannaSimpson

0/ My team (esp @JacobPPhillips!) and I have been thinking a lot about gaming as a way to usher in a new wave of people to crypto. We're going to need that if this industry is to become more than the same group of people talking at one another. A thread on in-game assets:

November 25th 2019

15 Retweets120 Likes

REGULATIONS

Anti-crypto Congressman Brad Sherman elected to chair Subcommittee on Investor Protection

U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman (Democrat-California), who once called for a blanket ban on cryptocurrency buying, has been elected as chairman of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets.

South Korea plans to tax crypto gains

The country’s Ministry of Economy and Finance is pushing for the measure to be implemented next year, local news outlet The Korea Times reported Sunday, citing “government sources.”

NEW PRODUCTS AND HOT DEALS

Ex-SoFi CEO Cagney's blockchain startup Figure closes $103M Series C at $1.2B valuation

Figure Technologies, a blockchain-powered financial services startup founded by former SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, has closed a $103 million Series C round.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

Hi, I’m Paul Veradittakit, a Partner at Pantera Capital, one of the oldest and largest institutional investors focused on investing in blockchain companies and cryptocurrencies. The firm invests in equity, pre-sales/IEO rounds, and cryptocurrencies on the secondary markets. I focus on early-stage investments and share my thoughts on what’s going on in the industry in this weekly newsletter.

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