Bitcoin Browser Brave Raises $4.5 Million to Fight Online Ads

The maker of ad-blocking browser Brave has raised $4.5m to expand its effort to let users voluntarily send bitcoin micropayments to their favorite websites in exchange for an ad-free experience.

When Brave Software first unveiled a version of the browser earlier this year, members of the media signed what has been called a cease-and-desist letter addressed to Brave. Signed by some of the biggest publishers in the world, the letter described what they perceived as the browser’s “blatantly illegal” blocking of their ad revenue.

Since then, the company’s founder has been engaging with those media outlets one-on-one in an effort to explain that Brave isn’t meant just to prevent Internet users from having their data mined, but to give media organizations a way to recover revenue from those who are already blocking ads.

In conversation with CoinDesk, Brave Software founder and CEO Brendan Eich said he intends to use the money to double the company’s employees from 10 to 20 people and continue to help bridge the gap between content creators and users.