Users take on Brave Browser as it redirects Binance URL to Affiliate link
The famous Brave browser has been catching fire after news spread that it is redirecting Binance links, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange company, to a referral landing page.
It has been doing this despite claiming to keep its users’ privacy a top priority. Brave browser has always been a popular choice amongst the cryptocurrency users for its authenticity, privacy, and security but this time around, it feels as if it has already lost its customer’s trust.
Industry observer Cryptonator1337 (@cryptonator1337) let out the details in a post declaring:
So, when you are using the @brave browser and type in “binance[.]us” you end up getting redirected to “binance[.]us/en?ref=35089877
So when you are using the @brave browser and type in "binance[.]us" you end up getting redirected to "binance[.]us/en?ref=35089877" – I see what you did there mates 😂
— Cryptonator1337 (@cryptonator1337) June 6, 2020
This problem was still there when BeInCrypto researchers tried to sign in to Binance using Brave meaning that, both the browser and the digital asset exchange company were hands in hand in earning this profit.
The URL turns out to be an affiliate link that would provide a commission to the owner for each person that signs up to Binance using the code. This has helped them in earning more money with the help of the new users signing up each time.
Similar referral links have been discovered for Coinbase, Ledger, and Trezor wallets
Another discovery was made by Larry Cermak regarding this hot topic in an article in EWN. He discovered more referral links by digging into the GitHub code of Brave. These include Ledger, Coinbase, and Trezor, alongside Binance. Cermak tweeted:
Looks like it’s not a very isolated mistake. Brave also does this for Ledger, Trezor and Coinbase if you look in their Github
1/ We made a mistake, we're correcting: Brave default autocompletes verbatim "https://t.co/hJd0ePInEw" in address bar to add an affiliate code. We are a Binance affiliate, we refer users via the opt-in trading widget on the new tab page, but autocomplete should not add any code.
— BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) June 6, 2020
CEO of Brave Apologizes
After an immense backlash from its users, the CEO and co-founder of the Brave browser spoke about the controversy and cleared the air out by saying that it was done intentionally to gain revenue without putting at stake its customer’s privacy. He made sure that such an unfortunate incident will never happen in the future.
However, even though they claimed to be reverting but the redirects were still working at the time of press.
