Brave: Building the Private User-Friendly Internet
Episode 620 • October 16, 2025

Brave: Building the Private User-Friendly Internet

In this episode, Friederike is joined by Kyle Den Hartog, security engineer at Brave, to explore the browser's role in a user-first web. From his roots in penetration testing and verifiable credentials, Kyle arrived at Web3 via self-sovereign identity, viewing it as empowering despite imperfections. He traces digital identity's path from federated dreams (like early OpenID) to centralization via convenience and spam filters, using email as a prime example of protocol betrayal. Brave's privacy defaults blocking YouTube ads while shielding fingerprints and IPs have driven 100 million users, proving privacy sells when seamless.

Kyle details BAT's evolution from 2017 ICO to combat data-mining economics: browser-side ad matching with zero knowledge proofs ensures privacy, but low payouts stem from advertiser hesitance outside crypto. Future fixes include intent-casting for vendor bids (à la Doc Searls) and AI-augmented offer walls, all without sharing profiles.

On wallets, Kyle calls for "privacy by default," with Brave's acting as user agents to automate privacy pools, cross-chain swaps, and microtransactions preventing on-chain behavioral tracking. He critiques browser plugins' risks, praises Chromium's speed (despite Google ties), and uses Inquisition history to frame regulations like chat controls as self-censorship enablers.

For social media, he proposes filter lists to tame divisive algorithms, echoing Brave Goggles' bias controls. Success for Brave? Explosive growth to sway standards, diversified revenue, and private stablecoin defaults challenging Visa/Mastercard.

Topics discussed in this episode:

  • 0:00 Introduction
  • 0:57 Kyle's background in security and identity
  • 2:50 Why identity and privacy matter
  • 4:33 The history and centralization of digital identity
  • 6:59 Email as a cautionary tale for decentralization
  • 10:22 Brave's privacy-first vision and 100M users
  • 15:59 BAT: Rewarding users for attention
  • 19:44 Challenges and evolutions in Brave's ad model
  • 30:15 Zero-knowledge for intent-based ads
  • 31:49 Brave Wallet: Privacy by default
  • 36:03 On-chain privacy pitfalls and wallet solutions
  • 47:03 Browser wallets vs. built-in security
  • 52:38 Censorship, regulations, and history's lessons
  • 57:58 Fixing social media algorithms
  • 1:07:54 Brave's 5-year vision

Links mentioned in the episode:

Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at ⁠⁠⁠gnosis.io ⁠⁠⁠

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

Friederike Ernst