Senior Software Engineer - Backend

Brave unveils social puzzle game to drive Web3 adoption. A gamified push for broader Web3 engagement. Brave, known for its privacy-centered web browser, has introduced a new social puzzle game as part of a strategy to expand Web3 adoption and draw more users into its ecosystem. Reports indicated that the company aimed to use an interactive and socially driven format to reach audiences beyond the typical crypto community while also highlighting the role of its native Basic Attention Token in its network. To introduce the project to a wide online audience, Brave rolled out a multi-week vault heist competition designed as a public-facing reveal. The competition was described as taking place across several digital venues, including the Brave browser itself as well as social platforms such as X and Discord. Observers noted that this multi-platform approach was intended to meet users where they already spend time online and to blend gaming with social interaction. Blending entertainment and blockchain. Brave was said to be experimenting with a different style of Web3 gaming, moving away from interfaces that resemble decentralized finance dashboards and instead leaning toward formats that feel closer to social entertainment. Company leadership signaled that the concept drew inspiration from reality-style competition formats that unfold across social media channels. Luke Mulks, who serves as vice president of business operations at Brave, conveyed that the game was designed for people who enjoy curiosity-driven challenges and strategic problem-solving. He explained that the experience was structured to be accessible, with no cost to join and no requirement for advanced gaming skills or technical expertise. His remarks suggested that the company wanted to lower the barrier to entry so that mainstream users could comfortably participate. Pre-registration reportedly opened on January 27, while the official start date for gameplay was set for February 3. Company updates shared that thousands of users had already signed up during the early access period, surpassing the four-thousand mark. The game was scheduled to be freely available through the Brave browser on both desktop and mobile devices, reflecting the firm's intention to keep access open and frictionless. Partnerships and gameplay structure. The initiative was developed through collaborations involving Brave, Midnight Network, and Mythical Games, with support from Fanon, a platform focused on social gaming. Participants were directed to register through Fanon's system and then select among three themed factions associated with the partner brands, each represented by a distinct color identity. Gameplay reportedly centers on deciphering encrypted hints, completing assigned tasks, and competing to open a digital vault. The event unfolds over four weekly stages, with each phase introducing new challenges. Coverage of the game indicated that cooperation plays a major role, as users are able to build alliances, work together on puzzle-solving, and attempt to identify deceptive participants within their ranks. Additional elements include prediction features and social challenges that span the Brave browser, the Fanon environment, and related social channels. The game was made accessible across major operating systems, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, ensuring that most users could join regardless of device preference. Rewards and broader goals. The vault heist competition was scheduled to conclude on February 27, when final rankings would be revealed. The top five hundred participants were set to receive rewards supplied by Brave and its collaborators. Industry watchers viewed these incentives as a way to sustain engagement throughout the multi-week event. Overall, analysts interpreted Brave's move as part of a broader effort to make Web3 experiences more approachable and entertaining. By combining social gaming mechanics, cross-platform interaction, and token visibility, the company was seen as attempting to introduce blockchain concepts through familiar digital behaviors. Such strategies were widely considered important for attracting users who might otherwise find Web3 products too complex or abstract, potentially helping Brave strengthen both its user base and the practical awareness of its token ecosystem.

Brave, Midnight Network, and Mythical Games launch multi-week community heist game. The free-to-play experience requires no gaming background and rewards strategy, observation, and teamwork. * Brave, Midnight Network, and Mythical Games have partnered to launch Brave Games, a multi-week reality-style vault heist starting February 2026. * The experience is free to play, requires no gaming background, and unfolds across the Brave ecosystem, X, Discord, and Fanon's social gaming platform. * Players choose factions (Brave, Midnight, or Mythical), solve encrypted clues, form alliances, and compete to access a digital vault. * The collaboration emerged through Brave's Rewards 3.0 Partner Program, which explores new uses for the Basic Attention Token (BAT). * Brave currently has over 100 million monthly active users, and its Rewards ecosystem includes over 1.5 million verified creators accepting BAT. Brave Software has announced a partnership with Midnight Foundation and Mythical Games to launch Brave Games, a community-driven competition described as a "reality-style vault heist" across the open web. The experience begins in February 2026 and will run for multiple weeks across social platforms and the Brave browser ecosystem. The game is built in collaboration with Fanon, a social gaming platform that describes the format as "the Internet's game show." Pre-registration opened on January 27, 2026, with a live X Spaces event hosted by Luke Mulks, VP of Business Operations at Brave. How Brave Games works. Participants select one of three factions: Brave, Midnight, or Mythical. From there, players form alliances, solve encrypted clues, identify hidden "moles" within opposing teams, and attempt to access a digital vault designed to resist discovery. The game unfolds across multiple rounds with several participation options. Players can join directly and make strategic decisions, follow the action through prediction mechanics, or participate in social challenges and timed events. The experience spans the Brave ecosystem, Fanon's platform, X, and Discord. Brave Games is free to play and requires no prior gaming experience, technical knowledge, or existing social following. Participants can engage either as active players or as observers who make predictions and follow the narrative. The partners. Each company brings distinct capabilities to the collaboration. * Brave operates the privacy-first browser that reached 100 million monthly active users in October 2025, according to company data. The browser includes an independent search engine and a browser-native multi-chain crypto wallet. Brave's rewards system has distributed Basic Attention Token (BAT) since 2017, with over 1.5 million verified creators now accepting the token. * Midnight Network is a privacy-enhancing blockchain developed by Shielded Technologies and supported by the Midnight Foundation. The network launched in December 2025 and uses zero-knowledge cryptography to enable confidential smart contracts. The platform operates with two tokens: NIGHT as the utility token and DUST as the shielded capacity resource. * Mythical Games is a Web3 gaming studio known for NFL Rivals, which has over 6.5 million players according to company posts on X. The studio focuses on building player-owned economies and accessible blockchain gaming experiences for mainstream audiences. (Ed. note: The combination of Brave's user base, Midnight's privacy technology, and Mythical's gaming expertise represents an unusual cross-sector collaboration in the Web3 space.) Executive statements. Charles Hoskinson, CEO of Input Output and the architect behind the Cardano blockchain and Midnight, framed the collaboration around user privacy: "Brave Games is an exciting example of what the open web can achieve when communities are treated as highly valued contributors and supported by strong privacy and transparent incentives. Too often, participation online comes at the cost of control over personal data or identity. Brave Games shows how privacy-by-design and zero-knowledge technology can enable social, playful experiences without asking users to compromise on trust." John Linden, CEO of Mythical Games, emphasized the competitive element: "Brave Games is exactly the kind of experience we love at Mythical. It brings players together in a way that's social, competitive and rewarding. We're excited to rally Team Mythical and show what our community can do when the stakes are high and the competition is real." Luke Mulks, VP of Business Operations at Brave, highlighted the scale: "Brave Games combines social networks, communities, and Brave's 107 million monthly active users global user base into dynamic gameplay, that brings partners and networks giving partners new ways to bring their latest and best projects to market for real users to enjoy together." Connection to Brave Rewards 3.0. The collaboration emerged through Brave's Rewards 3.0 Partner Program, an initiative where Brave works with ecosystem partners to explore how BAT can power experiences across the web. According to Brave's blog, what began as a partner collaboration evolved into a fully gamified, community-driven campaign. Fanon builds and hosts the game experience, while Brave leads brand direction, community coordination, and ecosystem collaboration. The Brave Rewards ecosystem has grown significantly since its 2017 launch. The company reports that hundreds of advertiser campaigns have run through Brave Ads, and the verified creator program now includes over 1.5 million participants. Themes and design philosophy. The partners describe Brave Games as an exploration of new engagement models that respect users by design. The experience weaves together gameplay, community interaction, and themes of privacy, security, and digital defiance. The collaboration is positioned as a test case for what becomes possible when participation is voluntary, incentives are transparent, and community trust is treated as a requirement rather than an afterthought. What comes next. Pre-registration is now open. Faction leads will be revealed shortly after registration opens, with the first clues surfacing soon after. The heist will unfold one phase at a time as alliances shift and the vault draws closer. Updates will be posted through the @AttentionToken account on X. Dedicated channels for each faction will be available on Discord and Telegram.

Brave browser starts testing agentic AI mode for automated tasks. Brave has introduced a new AI browsing feature that leverages Leo, its privacy-respecting AI assistant, to perform automated tasks for the user. Intended to assist with tasks such as autonomous web research, product comparison, promo-code discovery, and news summarization, the feature is currently in its testing phase and accessible through the Brave Nightly version. The new agentic AI browsing mode is disabled by default and represents the first step towards tighter AI-user integration for the privacy-focused browser. AI risk and how Brave deals with it. Brave stresses that agentic AI browsing is "inherently dangerous" and shouldn't be used for critical operations, mainly due to prompt injection attacks and the potential for misinterpreting users' intent. To mitigate this risk, the new mode runs on a separate, isolated profile that does not have access to the user's cookies, login information, and other sensitive data. The mode will also be restricted from accessing the browser's settings page, non-HTTPS sites, the Chrome Web Store, where it could download extensions, and any sites flagged by Brave's Safe Browsing system. All its actions will be visible in tabs, and anything risky will trigger warnings to the user, requesting their explicit approval. Additionally, the mode will be monitored by an 'alignment checker' mechanism, similar to what Google announced recently for Gemini's agentic mode on Chrome, where an isolated second model evaluates whether the agent's actions match user intent. Being isolated, this second model cannot be affected by prompt-injection attacks that target the primary agent. Additionally, Brave will encode specific policy-based rules and use models trained to mitigate prompt injection, such as Claude Sonnet, to provide effective protection. Regarding data privacy, which is Brave's core value, the vendor says there will be no compromise. The system will keep the same ad/tracker blocking and no-logs policy, while no user data will be used for AI model training. Testing the new mode. Those interested in testing Brave's new agentic AI mode can do so only through Brave Nightly, after enabling the "Brave's AI browsing" flag in 'brave://flags.' This will enable a button on Leo's chat box that activates the new browsing mode. Tester feedback to help address any issues may be submitted here, while Brave also announced it's doubling its HackerOne bug bounty payments for in-scope submissions concerning AI browsing. Broken IAM isn't just an IT problem - the impact ripples across your whole business. This practical guide covers why traditional IAM practices fail to keep up with modern demands, examples of what "good" IAM looks like, and a simple checklist for building a scalable strategy.