Coinhive
Coinhive was a provider of JavaScript -based "mining" software for cryptocurrencies . Coinhive's script can be built into websites and money can be earned by using the user's computing power. In addition to the mining script, Coinhive also offers a captcha and a URL shortener service that can be used to earn money. The news portal Heise reported that Coinhive will cease operations on March 8, 2019. On April 30, 2019, the entire service, including the website, went offline.
Business model
Coinhive provides JavaScript that website owners can integrate into their website. The script is used to send arithmetic operations to the visitor to the website, which then executes the script. The results of the calculations are sent to Coinhive. The arithmetic operations are only carried out in the browser. The crypto currency Monero is mined by means of these arithmetic operations . 70% of the profit achieved in this way is paid out to the website operator.
The business model was tested for the first time on a German-language image board . Via a website set up especially for this purpose, 2,100 users generated a hashrate of 110,400 hashes / s at times. This made the mining pool the second largest in the Monero network for a short time. In daily operation, the mining pool still calculates a hashrate of around 10,000 hashes / s. Users can exchange the calculated shares for additional days for the premium functions of the website.
criticism
The first major criticism of Coinhive's business model came when the first major site started using the script. The site The Pirate Bay had the script for testing purposes used in their side, to find out if this will develop a new revenue stream. There was criticism for dismantling the Moneros due to the lack of consent from the users concerned. The hidden executability of the script also received criticism. On September 22nd, Coinhive once again appealed to the operators of the web offers that users should be informed about the use of the script. On October 16, 2017, Coinhive responded to the ongoing criticism and introduced a new miner that only starts with the express consent of the user. Since the miner saves data of the hashes or files that he needs for mining in the RAM and these files are relatively large and often change in size, many users receive a warning message from their antivirus software . These messages put off many users, which can lead to reputational damage for the site operator .
distribution
According to a calculation, around 220 websites of the TOP 100,000 websites were equipped with a CoinHive script at the beginning of October 2017 . In total, these pages are visited by around 500 million users per month. At the end of October 2017, according to the publicly accessible database WhoRunsCoinhive, there were already over 1,000 websites with a reach of more than a billion users per month. According to this project, the majority of the websites that Coinhive have implemented can be assigned to fewer than 600 operators. The Coinhive crypto mining code was discovered on more than 300 government and university websites worldwide in mid-2018, all of the websites affected were running a vulnerable version of the Drupal content management system .
Alternative to advertising?
At the moment, the Coinhive model is not worthwhile in the opinion of bitcoinmag or the technology focus, for example.
Sample calculation
(assuming 54 hashes per second and 3 minutes per visitor)
| Visitors per day | Earning XMR per day | Earning XMR per month |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0.000286 XMR (approx. 0.02 euros) | 0.00858 XMR (approx. 0.69 euros) |
| 1,000 | 0.00286 XMR (approx. 0.20 euros) | 0.0858 XMR (approx. 6.90 euros) |
| 10,000 | 0.0286 XMR (approx. 2.00 euros) | 0.858 XMR (approx. 69.00 euros) |
(Source: bitcoinmag.de)
Web links
- Brian Krebs: Who and What Is Coinhive? March 26, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ No more crypto mining in the browser: Coinhive ceases operations. Heise online , February 28, 2019, accessed on March 4, 2019 .
- ↑ mining statistics. In: https://pr0gramm.com/ . Suntainment, July 23, 2017, accessed November 6, 2017 .
- ↑ pr0miner. In: pr0gramm.com. Suntainment, accessed November 6, 2017 .
- ↑ prospecting pr0mium. In: pr0gramm.com. Suntainment, July 20, 2017, accessed November 6, 2017 .
- ↑ The Pirate Bay Website Runs a Cryptocurrency Miner (Updated). In: TorrentFreak. September 16, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017 .
- ↑ Cryptocurrencies: The Pirate Bay is secretly experimenting with Monero Mining - Golem.de . ( golem.de [accessed October 30, 2017]).
- ↑ Blog - Coinhive - Monero JavaScript Mining. Retrieved October 30, 2017 .
- ↑ AuthedMine - Non-Adblocked Version - Coinhive - Monero JavaScript Mining. Retrieved October 30, 2017 .
- ↑ Cryptocurrency mining affects over 500 million people. And they have no idea it is happening. In: Adguard Blog . October 12, 2017 ( adguard.com [accessed November 2, 2017]).
- ↑ Who run's Coinhive? (No longer available online.) November 3, 2017, archived from the original on November 3, 2017 ; Retrieved November 3, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Coinhive Code Found On 300+ Websites Worldwide In Recent Cryptojacking Campaign . In: Cointelegraph . May 8, 2018 ( cointelegraph.com [accessed June 4, 2018]).
- ↑ a b Earning Money: Coinhive offers new possibilities for website monetization. In: bitcoinMag.de. Retrieved November 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Coinhive - crypto mining instead of advertising? What is behind it, how worthwhile is it and how can you prevent it as an end user. In: Technology focal point. Retrieved November 2, 2017 .
