Wallet support FAQ
Dapps work by communicating with a special object that Brave Wallet and extensions like MetaMask provide named window.ethereum.
Only one wallet can provide window.ethereum to websites.
In Brave, we expose a setting in brave://settings/wallet to be able to change which wallet provides window.ethereum.
Here's a description of each setting:
- Brave Wallet (Prefer extensions) - This is the default. Brave Wallet will expose
window.ethereumbut allow other extensions such as MetaMask to overwrite it. - Brave Wallet - Exposes
window.ethereumand prevents sites and extensions from changingwindow.ethereum. - Crypto Wallets (Deprecated) - Gives access to the old deprecated wallet. This option is not compatible with other extensions such as MetaMask.
- None -
window.ethereumwill not be provided by Brave Wallet at all. If you have extensions such as MetaMask, is is free to usewindow.ethereum.
After changing the default wallet, it is best to restart your browser. Why?
- If you had Crypto Wallets loaded, it won't be unloaded until the next restart. When Crypto Wallets is loaded it will not work properly with other extensions trying to access
window.ethereum. - Existing already opened tabs will not change to use the new wallet setting, you need a new tab or a browser restart.
Early versions of the deprecated Crypto Wallets extension used 24-words and were not BIP39 compliant. This was fixed later on for compatibility with other wallets to be compliant with BIP39.
If you have 24-words and you are restoring your wallet, then a checkbox will appear to use the legacy Brave method.
You should use that checkbox to get back at the same address as your old Crypto Wallets account.
For reference, the difference is:
- 24 words -> entropy and use entropy as seed
- Bip39: Valid mnemonic words->entropy->PBKDF2-HMAC-Sha256 and use that as seed
If you used the wrong method, simply restore on top again. Please remember if you are restoring you will replace and lose what your wallet currently has. You can restore from the lock screen on the wallet panel or in brave://wallet.
BAT Rewards come in the form of virtual BAT (vBAT) until you verify with an exchange. When you verify with an exchange, your vBAT gets deposited there and converted to real BAT. The step for going to an exchange is required for AML/KYC reasons. We're looking at the decentralization process for Brave ads rewards as part of Themis
Brave Wallet is a self custody wallet and therefore we cannot currently pay to it for the user rev-share for ads. We would need to KYC/AML your address and may also need a money transmitter license to do so.
For tipping, we are planning to implement on-chain P2P tipping. There are some things to work through including high Ethereum gas fees and no anonymity on Ethereum. After we have Solana support we will likely add this pretty quickly.
If you've lost your password, or don't remember ever creating a wallet, and you are trying to upgrade to the new Brave Wallet, then the best option is to simply not import from the existing wallet.
To do that click on the "Get Started" button from brave://wallet and then on the 2nd screen at the bottom, select "I’ve lost my password and recovery phrase, create a new wallet."
If you don't remember creating a wallet it might be that it was accidentally created in the past.
We plan on adding it as an optional part of our Sync in the future here https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/19762.
Until that is implemented, you can simply restore your backup seed words onto all devices that you want.
If you have a 24-word seed phrase generated from an old version of Brave you can't move over your seed phrase to MetaMask. Otherwise it will generate a different address.
You can however move your account to MetaMask by exporting your private key by navigating to brave://wallet/crypto/accounts and then importing it into MetaMask.