With today’s release of Brave browser 0.19.95 for the desktop, audiences can use the Brave Payments system to reward their favorite YouTube creators with Basic Attention Tokens (BAT). YouTube viewers can either distribute contributions based on the time they spend viewing material or by “pinning” a set amount for a particular channel. Previously, the BAT could only be distributed on a domain-by-domain basis.

The Brave browser provides an ad-free YouTube video experience. It also enables a direct monetary relationship between the content creator and their audience. Compensation for YouTube creators no longer needs to be based on vague rules or mercurial algorithms, as users can decide who to compensate. This new ability will especially benefit YouTube creators who have under 10,000 lifetime views, as they do not receive ad revenue from YouTube.

Previously, YouTube creators could not be listed as individual publishers in Brave Payments. This change allows BAT contributions to flow directly into their wallets. The Brave browser determines the YouTube creator name from a YouTube video, no matter what site embeds it. It then displays it in the Brave Payments list, enabling the user to donate back on a monthly basis. Once a user enables Brave Payments, donations are done automatically and anonymously.

In order to verify YouTube creators with our Brave Payments system, we use the OAuth standard. Once the creator’s email is confirmed by our system, they are asked to verify their YouTube channel by connecting via Google; in turn, Google confirms with our publisher site that the creator has authenticated as an authorized owner of that channel, without revealing their credentials.

After the YouTube creator completes this verification process and opens an account with Uphold, they are eligible to start collecting monthly BAT contributions from their audience. BAT contributions are automatically converted to fiat and may then be transferred to the creator’s bank account.

We look forward to seeing a new category of content creators on YouTube get rewarded via BAT. We plan on extending BAT to additional user-generated content platforms so that more creators can benefit from audience support, and anticipate seeing BAT’s utility grow as it supports more creators and publishers in our digital advertising and services platform.