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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Another day/week/month, and no updates. I was hoping they could answer more today but no luck. I even tried asking about countries like Slovakia and Croatia, which had been mentioned would be added again “soon” back in February.
Unfortunately they had nothing to say on it. Instead, just saying that countries had been rescinded because of partners and that some others were about high amounts of fraud and other issues. Nothing specifically mentioned though.
So as usual, we’re waiting for people from Brave to eventually give us details. Not sure why it’s like pulling teeth to hear anything. When any of us contact Uphold, they say it’s Brave making the decisions. Then when we ask Brave, often is said to be Uphold.
Maybe @luke.mulks and/or @chriscat can try to get more information out there officially. We do know it’s been about 5 months since any new countries were added, which can feel like a long time.
