For new information, check bottom comment. Otherwise can review some of the below to see overall status since July 26, 2022.
Brave’s List of Supported Countries
OLD UPDATES BELOW: Can’t add more since April 4, 2023.
Update: April 4, 2023
Only because it’s been a little while since I gave an update, thought I’d just do a small post. At this point they still have nothing solid to say about adding countries again, the new partner(s) they are hoping to add, or even of an ETA for the sunsetting of vBAT.
What was said in today’s Community Call though is that they did finish some meetings with Uphold and other places. My takeaway from what was said and how it was said is that they still are hoping to get some good news here for the future. However, it’s not far enough along that it can be announced. So we’re still stuck waiting.
Update: March 14, 2023
TL:DR = No real updates. Seeming unlikely countries added again before sunsetting of vBAT, but we shall see. Announcements will be made when more is known and to try to give warning/notice. I’ll update when there’s updates. If see nothing from me, means there’s nothing to be said.
Longer update:
Update is that there’s no update. Still no talk of countries getting added again or anything. I keep pushing in different ways, but Brave hasn’t had anything more to say for a while. I’m not sure what to tell all of you.
As to people who keep asking about sunsetting of VBAT and if things might be resolved for countries to be added ahead of time, I’ll leave you with the more recent question/answer, especially pertaining to India:
During Community Call, Luke said won’t be any “surprises” like had been on some of the more recent changes, where it landed on Nightly sooner than expected and with no heads up. He’s unsure if sunsetting will be universal or happen on Nightly first.
So stay tuned for more info. I’ll just be updating when I have something new to share. If you see it’s been weeks with nothing, it’s because we still have weeks with no new information. I promise, I’ll share news any time I hear anything that can be shared…whether good or bad.
Update: February 23, 2023
I was hoping to hear more before the weekend, which is why I didn’t update immediately after the Community Call. Unfortunately we have another week of no updates.
It does get frustrating as you wouldn’t think it would take so long for things to be finalized. According to what last was stated by the Rewards Team, things are all set for Croatia and a lot of other countries to be added. But as always, waiting for Uphold to finalize some things and “activate” it all so Rewards can be linked.
Much like all of you, I’m not happy with how long it’s taking. Also do not understand what’s going on “behind the scenes.” All I can tell you is that from conversations I’ve had, I can tell you they are sincerely trying. I’ll be pushing more on information and initiating bigger conversations as we get closer to April so everyone can know what’s going on.
UPDATE February 14, 2023
Thankfully, chriscat joined in and was able to answer a few questions today. In terms of adding more regions, he advised that there are a number of countries that they have “shortlisted” and hope to be able to have added soon. Some of those countries are Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovakia.
The wait right now is on communication with Uphold. Even though Uphold might be available in those regions does not mean they (Uphold) are willing to let us connect our Rewards to it. There’s a lot of little factors that can cause delays. Sometimes it’s Uphold’s restrictions based on their budget, others it’s about risk, and then it can also be about making sure that everything is fine in terms of laws and regulations. Keep in mind Rewards is different than just using an exchange.
All of that said, everything is a work in progress. They can’t give us an ETA because every time they have guessed at one, things haven’t always worked out and people get disappointed and/or frustrated. So while it stinks for any who are seeing this update and waiting for your region to be added, please do know that they are sincerely working on several options to try to get your country supported again. This doesn’t guarantee it will happen or that it will happen soon, but they are working on it.
UPDATE February 7, 2023
Luke is trying to get Chriscat and a couple others to come on next week to speak more on Rewards and hopefully have updates. There’s not much they can say on things for now except to yet again mention that they are working on getting countries added as soon as possible.
As to one of the major questions about India and/or the new custodial partner, the latest on that is seen in the screenshot below:
As many have mentioned, updates are harder to get lately compared to what they used to be. Unfortunately it seems like there are a lot more barriers in place and support is not being added as quickly as they’d wish. I am still trying to get more definitive answers on the hope of countries getting support before the sunsetting of vBAT, but I’m not sure what I can get them to share or even how much they know with any certainty.
UPDATE January 31, 2023
Yet another week of no official updates. What had been said on a different conversation though is that there’s large set of countries (like maybe around 10) soon to be added. Brave is just waiting for Uphold to finish some things on their end. I’m hoping to hear more about that sometime this week or early next week.
With Jimmy gone, it’s been hard to get them to have much they are able to share weekly.
UPDATE: January 24, 2023
In finishing today’s Community Call, it was said that there’s still no new information. I keep pushing for them to say something but just seems Luke hasn’t been hearing much or getting details on countries being added. He is saying he’ll pass on info when something changes, but kind of have nothing for now.
In terms of new partner for India and other countries, he also said not in a stage in talks with them to be able to provide details. When asked if think they might be in place before the sunsetting of vBAT, he didn’t have an answer as is uncertain and doesn’t want to mislead anyone in either direction.
That said, I’ll try to see if we can get @chriscat around to offer some details on status of getting countries added again to Uphold since we haven’t really heard anything for a while.
UPDATE: January 17, 2023
Yet another week with no updates. New person in charge of Growth started today. They said hopefully will have some information to share with us next week.
Brendan also joined the call to mention that Brave is still working on another exchange partner for regions that are having difficulties, such as India. He said while they can’t give specific details now, it’s positive and it’s one that has close ties to Brave. So it’s all looking positive.
As always, I’ll post updates here as they share more.
UPDATE: January 10, 2023
Nothing new stated during Community Call. Unfortunately new person in charge of Growth hasn’t started yet and Jimmy’s last week was January 3. Luke didn’t have any updates to give beyond the normal idea they are working on trying to add more countries.
That said, I do know they have been working to get things handled between Brave and Uphold to get the next batch of countries added, which should hopefully be happening this month. Not sure which countries or anything.
UPDATE: January 3, 2023
Things are still a work in progress. Everyone is returning from holidays and they have to get a gameplan together. What they can say is their priority right now is on getting countries added to Uphold. No idea how long it’s going to take and don’t have a list of countries to share in terms of saying will be ready soon.
As to Gemini, they have nothing to say on it for now. It may be something they add again for the future but it’s not a priority and we’re not expecting any countries to be added back for it any time soon.
Side Note
The primary person who has been giving us updates, Jimmy Secretan, is leaving to start an unrelated company with friends. This is his last week. Not sure if Chriscat will be joining in on the weekly calls or who we’ll have for updates.
UPDATE: December 20, 2022
Brave is still working on adding regions. It is highly unlikely there will be any changes for the rest of the month due to the holidays. Next additions likely to occur in January. They will provide more updates when available.
There will be no Community Call next week, with the next one occurring the first Tuesday of January. As such, likely will be no updates for next week.
UPDATE: December 13, 2022
UPDATE December 06, 2022
India and other countries still being worked on. No specific updates that can be given. Goal is still to add as many as possible by the end of the year. There are some countries in the works, but waiting on Uphold to finish things on their end. No country in particular mentioned.
UPDATE November 30, 2022
Uphold verification re-enabled for 15 countries additional countries
- Argentina
- Belize
- Chile
- Costa Rica
- Ecuador
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Uruguay
- Bahamas
- Jamaica
UPDATE November 29, 2022
Some Latin American countries should be added within the next 2-3 of days.
India and others still are unknown. They say it’s still a high priority but that there have been a number of complications. The focus is just trying to get things organized and making it so when they bring it back, hopefully doesn’t need to be taken down again for a long time.
UPDATE: November 22, 2022
Nothing new for this week. They are hoping things are in line and able to reopen to some countries within Latin America next week. No specific countries they can speak of right now, only that at least some countries in the region seems like it’s close to coming back.
I didn’t ask about India and they didn’t mention. So for those wondering, still don’t know. I’ll hope to dig in more on that maybe next week, in addition to hopefully news about Latin America and other regions as well.
UPDATE: November 14, 2022
Brazil, Turkey, and Cayman Islands are able to link to Uphold again.
Verifying with Uphold re-enabled for Brazil, Turkey and Cayman Islands
UPDATE November 11, 2022
I’ve received feedback from Users saying not able to relink even though we’ve been said you should be able to. I’ve relayed that to the Rewards team and I’m waiting for responses. I can guarantee that in the call I had with them, they did say it should work and gave me permission to provide the update I gave.
I appreciate the feedback and anyone who wants to share regarding success or failure of relinking is appreciated. In the meanwhile, I’ll be sure to post more updates when I hear back from the team(s) at Brave.
UPDATE November 10, 2022
Uphold status is similar Gemini is at the moment. What I mean by this is you should be able to link to Uphold IF you meet all the below requirements.
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You were linked with the particular browser/wallet payment ID to Uphold in the past (meaning you haven’t reinstalled Brave, formatted your device, etc)
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You did not manually disconnect Uphold from your browser
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You have not linked to Gemini or anything in between. (the last known connection was to Uphold with your current Reward) and you’re connecting to the same Uphold you had before.
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Your Uphold account is still in good standing and active
Basically, if you were Verified in a country, such as India or Brazil when support for the country stopped and you have done nothing since, then you should be able to connect to Uphold again now.
However, new connections will only be allowed in supported countries, which you can see at https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/6539887971469
UPDATE November 08, 2022
No specific information to give for this week’s update. Everything is still a work in progress. India and Turkey among top priority, as are Latin America countries. No estimated timeline to give at this time. Will hope to provide more information next week.
UPDATE November 02, 2022
In yesterday’s call, they didn’t have much to say except still working with Uphold and Gemini to bring countries back and make necessary changes. Brazil is back on their primary focus again (supposedly). If all goes well, it will return before too long.
When asked if they still think regions will be brought back by the end of the year, they said yes.
Outside of the call with a different person from Brave, there was a discussion about Turkey, where it was also said to be in the works and likely returning soon. So that’s essentially the latest for now.
UPDATE October 29, 2022
Sorry, I missed the weekly update here. There wasn’t much shared with us officially. Brave is still working on getting countries back and making progress on the new exchange that will be coming, which will allow us more options in terms of custodial partners. We still are at 28 countries on the list for Uphold, which was expanded from just 18 a couple weeks prior. So there is progress being made.
Unofficially, I’d like to encourage people from India to try to see if they can link to Uphold. The reason for this is someone had posted a few days ago that they and their friends were able to link to Uphold despite being from India. The primary User had already linked to Uphold in the past and the friends supposedly were new.
Treat this as an experiment. Worst case is it will be as officially announced, which means will still show not in a supported region. But if the User is correct and it will let you link, then would be quite awesome.
UPDATE October 19, 2022
Little late on the update this week. So long story short, Jimmy wasn’t on the Community Call for the week and we didn’t have any updates there. However, we have had some changes being made. To quote Chriscat:
Brave Rewards: 10 countries re-enabled for connecting to Uphold! Switzerland, Andorra, Cyprus, Greece, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Poland
So progress is being made. I’d just encourage everyone to continue being patient while we wait for other countries to be added again. You can also keep an eye out on the lists at https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/6539887971469
UPDATE October 13, 2022
GOOD NEWS! Gemini is back to 100% for existing Users. If you’re connecting a new device or have never yet connected Brave to Gemini, you won’t be able to connect. But if you’ve linked to Gemini before and are using the same Rewards profile, you’ll be able to log in once again.
(For anyone who doesn’t know, Miyayes = Chriscat)
I’ve also seen this confirmed as people from India have been able to connect their Rewards to Gemini. Just keep in mind, THIS IS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAD LINKED THEIR EXISTING BROWSER PROFILE TO GEMINI IN THE PAST.
UPDATE October 11, 2022
Jimmy Secretan made the following points/comments for updates.
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Gemini had asked we basically turned off all but US while they address some issues.
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It’s unfortunate, but we can’t really talk about all the reasons involved because it’s something we’re paying close attention to.
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I know it’s disappointing for everyone
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The good news is we’re making progress with Uphold and hopefully will have Brazil, India, and other countries turned on soon. We’re just waiting for Uphold to finish up a few things surrounding fraud.
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Recent Gemini changes are for new users or devices only. If you’re seeing it not letting you log in again right now, give it some time as we’re updating things to allow it to link on the User side. Though it shows you
Unverified, it will still be connected on Brave’s side. -
Give us a few days because there are some issues Rewards team is working on, which hopefully will push payments through for current payments. If you’re having issues with payments after next week, submit a Support Ticket
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Germany is different than the rest. Theirs is more regulatory things going on and is more difficult, so we don’t know what we’re going to do about Germany.
UPDATE October 07, 2022
I just made a new Topic to share information recently provided by Chriscat from Brave. It provides some answers to things people want to know in regards to why regional support was withdrawn in places and kind of alludes to some of the things they are working on to bring countries back. You can see this at PSA: More info on Unsupported Region
UPDATE October 06, 2022
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Colombia will be able to link to Uphold once again. NOTICE: Uphold Verification for users in Columbia has been re-enabled
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New notice went out saying only United States can link accounts to Gemini. You can see it at Verifying with Gemini now only available for US Gemini accounts (Brave Rewards)
I am trying to learn more, but did have Luke Mulks explain the following:
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This only will impact people who already had not linked Brave to Gemini. If you have linked to Gemini, it will remain connected as long as you don’t
Disconnectit yourself. -
This change was required by Gemini, and while the teams are evaluating adding support to countries outside the US for new users, there is not an ETA for when.
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If an existing user has to re-authenticate with their linked Gemini account, they will be able to.
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If Gemini linked accounts get disconnected (without the User choosing to disconnect themselves) and are unable to reverify , it should be reported (submit a support ticket
UPDATE October 04, 2022
Today’s talk was more on Privacy. That said, at the beginning they mentioned no updates on countries except Colombia. Jimmy mentioned that he thinks things are about wrapped up and Colombia should be added again soon. However, he did not provide an ETA for that.
UPDATE September 27, 2022
The person who usually gives updates on region is Jimmy Secretan (@jsecretan) but he wasn’t able to make it to the call for some reason. Nobody else on the call really had been in touch to be able to try to answer anything with any accuracy in regards to any updates on this topic.
Hopefully he’ll be on next week or perhaps will get more official updates soon.
UPDATE September 20, 2022
Question Any updates on unsupported regions?
Answer No, not yet. We have a bit of a timing update. There are things we are waiting on Uphold for at this point, some of their changes that are going into place. I cast some shade here, but they were supposed to have completed by now and I think they are getting pushed off one more week.
Again, I hope we have some better news on that here soon. We’re waiting on that to bring back some regions. But there’s more work to be done to bring even more back. Still, pushed back a little bit but hoping any week now we can get better news.
Question It was mentioned in the past that we’d be doing Brazil added and then immediately after, India. When you mentioned waiting on Uphold to make some changes so countries can be brought back, is this going to be only Brazil and/or India, or will this include other countries?
Answer We’ll have to see. I think right now it’s primarily Brazil and maybe some other countries. Before that though, there’s more work to be done before we can get to India.
UPDATE September 13, 2022
Today’s talk was all about Brave Wallet but they did respond to me in an email regarding regional support. The answer is they don’t have anything solid to say right now but will reach out when they do.
I know, this is three weeks with little to no information. It’s frustrating, but it’s where we’re at. Hopefully they’ll get it figured out and reach out to us soon with more information so we aren’t left hanging without a clue.
UPDATE September 06, 2022
Brave has Brazil situated and is waiting for Uphold to turn in some options and make adjustments on their end. They said that ideally it’s going to be happening within the next few days.
I didn’t get clarification if this is just Brazil or if others will be active at the same time. So I guess we’ll all be waiting together this week to see what they tell us.
UPDATE August 31, 2022
Unfortunately have to announce that Brave has paused the ability to verify with Uphold for anyone in Colombia. No idea why quite yet. But I do know that people from that region were having difficulties on occasion, so I think it’s been taken down to try to fix it for everyone.
Columbia has been temporarily removed as a supported region for Uphold verification
UPDATE August 30, 2022
Sad to say this particular Brave Call had a lot of news on other things and we didn’t get much time to talk on Rewards. The update just was Brazil has been taking longer than expected and they are still working hard to restore it. They are currently waiting to hear back from Uphold on some of the things they are working on to get Brazil back up and running. Then they will be going straight for India next.
UPDATE August 23, 2022
Today’s update is not much of an update, unfortunately. What was said is that they are still prioritizing Brazil and India, working to get them back up ASAP and will be continuing to work on other countries.
When asked if unsupported regions would likely be added before the end of the year, they stated they are definitely going to have most added by then. Some countries, such as Germany, are questionable due to government policies/regulations.
I’ll update when we hear more to share.
UPDATE August 20, 2022
Brave had some issues and had to disable Brazil once again. They said it will be just a few days, but we will wait and see. Brazil: Verifying Brave Rewards with Uphold & Gemini will be re-enabled soon
UPDATE August 18, 2022
Brazil should be able to reconnect to Gemini and Upold once again!
This means now there are 21 available regions to connect to exchanges. India should be coming soon. Not sure what they are working on after, but will update as Brave makes it known.
UPDATE August 16, 2022
France should be able to connect to Uphold once again. France: Verifying Brave Rewards with Uphold is re-enabled!
France should be brought back but they are having some who are saying having issues, so they are investigating that and making sure all in France can connect.
Originally said India was next priority, but things happened where Brazil is now shifted to be next. Hopefully India about the same time, but might take just a tad longer for India.
If all goes well, Brazil and India hopefully will be back within the next 2-3 weeks. That said, I always advise to expect longer. So think 1-2 months and be happy if we get it sooner (my personal opinion).
Other countries not known yet. Will update as we know more.
UPDATE August 09, 2022
To quote exactly what was said (my questions pertained more to France, India, and Germany but that’s because France and India had been said to be their starting point. Everyone else should start to be added shortly after. I asked Germany because it’s in a unique situation and I wanted to bring it up):
Now with integration back on, hopefully we will be doing the necessary tests with France in the next couple of weeks.
And then we will move on to India. Germany is more restricted and complicated but we’ll talk to the providers about that.
For those from the many other countries affected, I didn’t specifically ask about you but that’s only because France and India has been said to be the priority. So they will be added first. This means we know at least 1-2 months for your region to come back, maybe longer. I’ll share about specific countries as Brave mentions them.
UPDATE August 03. 2022
Uphold is open once again for the 19 countries listed below (if your country is not listed, you still can’t link to Uphold or Gemini):
They are still working on opening up to other countries but no idea how long. Last time it was discussed, aim was for at least France and India to be back within the next 2 months, along with anyone else they’ll be able to bring back at that time.
UPDATE August 02, 2022
Community Call update: You can listen in at https://youtu.be/crjeY9vYHds
Other information also from emails, which I’ll summarize.
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We will be adding Uphold for restricted countries tomorrow
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For those asking why regions are being restricted, there’s not much we can say. Everything has been related to both compliance and fraud. We realize it’s an inconvenience and we’re working to bring things back ASAP.
UPDATE July 26, 2022 6pm EDT
Just finished Brave Community Call. YouTube = https://youtu.be/yaNpS2kReu4
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The first thing that will be addressed will be Uphold, which is down for everyone. They are hoping to have that within the week. This will bring it back to the 19 countries listed in the Gemini and Uphold notices linked above.
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Once add 19 countries again, will try to start adding other countries. Hope is countries like France and India will be added within the next couple months.
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All others will be added ASAP but no timeline given. If all goes well, will be within same couple months as listed above. But it’s possible to last longer. So be prepared for the worst case scenario that it will be a long time but hope it gets completed sooner.
Remember, you still can earn BAT and participate in Rewards. So don’t let this discourage you. I understand it’s frustrating as many want access to BAT for money now. Unfortunately this will have to be delayed until they are able to add your region again.
ORIGINAL POST
If you’re wondering why you’re seeing “unsupported region,” then open and read all links below. Just a note, I’ll be linking this to everyone who keeps asking.
First off, Uphold is currently paused for all in the world. Meaning it doesn’t matter where you live, you can’t connect or reconnect to Uphold. It is temporary, not permanent.
Temporary Pause On Uphold Linking
Besides that though, there also is a temporary limitation on countries that can connect to Gemini or Uphold. See the official announcements below. Also, below that, is a YouTube link to a Community Call where Brave discussed it. This also answers the questions many of you have as to “why” and “how long?” (Why = legal/regulations and business issues. How long = unknown, but as soon as possible)
NOTICE: New region restrictions on verifying Brave Rewards with Gemini
NOTICE: New region restrictions on verifying Brave Rewards with Uphold
If good with spoken English, you can listen also to https://youtu.be/n_C_PGeDXZo but otherwise, a paraphrase of the important part is below:
I see a lot of questions about some of the new recent country restrictions. We know that the last few weeks have been super confusing on what countries are supported. Some historically have gone in and out of support as compliance issues. Some, frankly, as I’ve shared before, have become fraud vectors (we don’t go into that in too much detail).
But what we wanted to do in this latest round is say, ok, let’s constrain it down to countries we have been comfortable with and had the least amount of issues.
We’re hoping over the next couple of weeks is that we’re going to put some more kind of controls and protections in place with those custodial partners and will start to bring regions back. France is top of my list to bring back. India is definitely on my list to bring back as soon as possible. So a lot of those countries, we’re going to really be working with those custodial partners to make sure things are in good shape so we can bring those back as soon as possible. Some, frankly, may take longer than others.
As I mentioned to Stephen (Saoiray), it may take us a little while to figure out things in Vietnam and Philippines. We’re still working on that. We still want to bring all these regions back, but hopefully ones like France and India, they’re probably at the top of our list to bring back into the fold. As soon as we have any updates there, we will let you know. That’s a lot of what we’ll be working on over the next few weeks and we’ll do our best to keep you updated.
