Privacy-focused browser company Brave today announced its integration with the Solana blockchain, which stands behind the fifth most valuable cryptocurrency in the crypto market.

Brendan Esch, CEO of Brave, said:

With more and more users and creators needing tools for quick and affordable access to the decentralized web, this integration will pave the way for crypto users to harness apps and tokens to their advantage.

Brave’s switch to Solana was due to the higher speeds the Solana network offered and lower costs, according to the company’s blog.

Unlike other node-enabled blockchains like Ethereum, simple transactions on Solana cost less than 0.000005 SOL, or $0.001.

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The lower fees will likely make interacting with cryptocurrencies, specifically crypto users, much more attractive.

This move could be beneficial to the Solana ecosystem, as Brave currently has 42 million monthly active users.

Once the integration is complete in the first half of 2022, millions of Brave users will be exposed to a variety of Solana’s decentralized applications.

Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana Labs, said in a press release:

Deep integration with browsers is key to helping dapps build better web experiences.

Brave’s announcement of support for Solana’s wallet across all versions of their browsers is an important step to get the next billion users into Solana.

According to data taken fromApplication numbers“Brave” browser is currently the third most downloaded browser on the Internet, after “Opera” and “Google Chrome”.

Brave is built using the same free and open source code source as Chrome.

The announcement was particularly bullish for Ethereum-based Brave, where BAT is up more than 23% on the day, according to coinmarketcap.

Meanwhile, Solana’s native cryptocurrency is down slightly today, with a 1.3% decline after rising above the record high of over $260 per coin over the weekend.

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2021 is the year of Solana:

The digital currency saw a record high in 2021.

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On January 1, SOL cryptocurrency was trading at less than $2.

Today, SOL is trading at $241.

The burgeoning NFT space and the growth of DeFi products that allow trading, borrowing and lending services without third-party intermediaries such as banks have been key factors behind the network’s success.

Last month, for example, the total value secured on DeFi projects built on Solana reached a record $12.7 billion, with projects like Raydium, Marinade Finance and Serum.

Emerging DeFi projects are also attracting big money from big brand investors.

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