During the Messari Mainnet event, the company behind the internet browser Brave announced a partnership with the Electric Coin Co. (ECC) and the Filecoin Foundation. These entities are the leading developers of the Zcash (ZEC) protocol and Filecoin (FIL).
Brave brings Zcash Tools to Web3
According to a official announcementthe collaboration aims to ‘improve’ the privacy of Brave’s Web3 wallet. This feature allows users to transact with cryptocurrencies, including the Basic Attention Token (BAT), which people can earn by interacting with websites.
Zcash’s native token, ZEC, will be the latest to be integrated with the wallet. The company behind Brave claims that this partnership underlines its “commitment” to providing privacy tools to its users.
The integration allows users to transact privately or publicly with other users and “gain more control” over their Web3 activities. Zooko Wilcox, CEO of Electric Coin Co., stated:
I’m excited about the integration of Zcash into the Brave web browser because privacy should be normal. The Brave browser is a tool that tens of millions of people use for daily communication, web browsing, shopping, and other activities. This gives them access to money that respects their security and consent. I am thrilled with this launch – and what is to come – as a result of this partnership with Brave and Filecoin Foundation.
Since its inception, Brave has given its users more control over their data and activities. The company behind the browsers has been expanding its privacy features lately, launching easy ways to delete cookies, profiles, and any traces of interaction with a website.
In this sense, Brave’s Yan Zhu added:
This collaboration with like-minded organizations further strengthens Brave’s mission for a more private and user-centric internet. Not only do we hope to make it easy to use ZEC for private transactions, but we also strive to maximize privacy during key moments of purchase or exchange.
More privacy, more features
In addition to the above, the partners have hinted at the launch of a new privacy-based tool for sending and receiving messages and multimedia files supported by the Zcash protocol. The content is stored using the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), which Filecoin supports.
Marta Belcher, President of the Filecoin Foundation, said:
We are happy to be part of this important project. We believe cryptocurrency can be the foundation for a better internet – an alternative to big technology that puts people in control of their own data, protects users’ privacy and security, and permanently stores humanity’s most important information.
At the time of writing, neither ZEC nor BAT have seen any benefit as a result of the announcement. However, Brave users will likely benefit in the long run from using a privacy-focused tool and an alternative to Google and other big tech companies. getting hungrier for people’s data.
Cover image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview