The Brave open source browser, which became famous for its focus on user privacy, was caught adding referral codes to certain URLs that users enter in the address bar.
The revelation was made by the Twitter user @ cryptonator1337 (his findings have gone viral on other social media as well as reddit). The cryptonator1337 he remarked that every time someone enters the binance.us address manually in the address bar, the Brave browser inclpays automatically the URL with a referral code.
This may not be a matter of privacy, but it is not suitable for browser users who expect nothing more than full transparency from the application developer.
As it turns out, referral codes are added not only to Binance's address, but also to other sites such as Ledger, Trezor and Coinbase.
The CEO and co-founder of Brave, Brendan Eich has already answered on Twitter, explaining that this is something that will be resolved immediately, and all affiliate passwords will be removed in the next update.
"We work with Binance and this code identifies us," Eich explained.
Earlier this year, Brave and crypto exchange Binance signed a partnership that effectively allowed users to exchange cryptocurrencies directly on the new tab page without the need for other applications.
“All major browsers do this for affiliate offers searchs (internal functions in the case of Chrome, also track logged in users). We used typed-in domains, but we've already fixed that," added Eich.
As you can see the referral codes are added to the websites listed above on both desktop and mobile. According to the developer a fix has already started, so you should wait for the update that will resolve this issue in all platforms where Brave can be installed.