Report: Some Crypto Mining Apps Remain in Google Play Store Despite Recent Ban

Published at: Aug. 29, 2018

According to a report by the Next Web published on August 28, several cryptocurrency mining apps remain in the Google Play Store despite the ban.

On July 27, Google banned crypto-mining apps from its Play Store. An update to Google’s developer policy read that "we don't allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices." The company gave mining app developers a 30-day grace period to revise their products in order to comply with the new terms.

The deferral period has passed, but some apps that enable on-device mining are still available on the Play Store, according to the Next Web. The site reportedly found eight apps, three of which have been removed. NeoNeonMiner, Crypto Miner PRO, Pickaxe Miner, and Pocket Miner are still live on the store, while Bitcoin Miner reportedly claims its offering complies with the terms introduced by Google.

While MinerGate has been removed from the store, its developers told Hard Fork that the app’s latest iteration deleted its on-device mining features in order to comply with Google’s rules. MinerGate told Hard Fork in an email:

“Mining on your phone directly was among the core features of the MinerGate app before the last changes in Google Play Development policies. With the last update, we are removing this functionality to meet the updated requirements.”

Earlier this month, Google Play Store hosted a reported Ethereum (ETH) scam application. Lukas Stefanko, a malware researcher from Slovakia, reportedly found a fraudulent “Ethereum” app on Google Play that had been offered for purchase at price of €335 or around $388. According to the researcher, the scam intended to dupe uninformed buyers into purchasing the app, who mistook it for the original Ethereum cryptocurrency.

In April, Google also announced that it is removing mining extensions from its Chrome Web Store after “90 percent” supposedly failed to comply with its rules. The move reportedly came in response to analysis of malicious “cryptojacking” present in extensions.

Tags
Altcoin
Cryptocurrencies
Google
Mining
Android
Related Posts
Apple May Remove Coinbase’s Mobile DApp Browser From App Store
After Google removed Ethereum-based decentralized application (DApp) browser MetaMask from its Android application store, Apple may now force Coinbase to remove the DApp browser feature from its crypto wallet application. According to a Reddit post published on Dec. 28, United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase warned its users that in order to comply with Apple’s mobile App Store policy, it might be forced to remove the DApp browser feature from its wallet application. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong commented on the post: “Coinbase CEO here. This is really unfortunate to see. Apple seems to be eliminating usage of Dapps from the App …
Altcoin / Dec. 29, 2019
Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Reveals He Is an Ethereum Miner
Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin made the surprise revelation that he is an Ethereum (ETH) miner at the Blockchain Summit in Morocco Sunday, July 8. Brin is currently the president of Alphabet, Google’s parent company which formed as part of the tech giant’s restructuring back in 2015, but his “side hustle” is apparently mining the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, together with his 10-year old son. Brin attributed the success of Google’s search engine and email services as down to taking the possibilities of emerging technologies “seriously” - recognizing a potential “leap” - something he credited the developers and minds behind …
Ethereum / July 10, 2018
Kyrgyzstan Proposes Draft Law to Introduce Crypto Mining Taxation
On Aug. 28, the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan has submitted the draft law “On Amending the Tax Code” with the aim of introducing cryptocurrency mining taxation. New tax proposal According to news outlet Kabar, the draft law was specifically developed to allow for the possible taxation of crypto mining. The taxation on cryptocurrency mining is expected to increase budget revenues and to contribute to the principle of fair taxation in the Kyrgyz Republic. The Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan seems to be exploring two possible options to implement taxes on cryptocurrency mining. The first option would be the taxation …
Altcoin / Aug. 31, 2019
New Google Joke Advertisement Questions the Validity of Cryptocurrency as Money
Google entered the cryptocurrency-as-money debate on Tuesday, Oct. 9, arguing over its validity during an introductory video for a new feature from its Google Assistant tool. While demonstrating how its Call Screen caller ID function works, two Google presenters enter into a brief discussion about cryptocurrency in a spoof argument. The Call Screen shows the identity of an incoming call as being from the “electric company,” and the call’s purpose — Call Screen’s other feature — as one presenter’s “bill being super high.” “Cryptocurrency mining takes a lot of energy,” the presenter argues, which elicits the response from the other: …
Bitcoin / Oct. 10, 2018
Japanese IT Giant GMO Launches Zcash Mining Software Client
Japanese internet services giant GMO Internet Inc. has launched a new mining software client designed for mining Zcash (ZEC) on graphic processing units (GPUs). GMO announced the new client, dubbed Cryptknocker, in a news release published September 28. Cryptknocker has reportedly been designed to enable users to mine cryptocurrencies that are based on the Equihash consensus algorithm using commonly-available GPU chips. Unlike more specialized Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), GPUs are widely used in many domestic computers. As previously reported, when Zcash’s developers unrolled Equihash – the mining algorithm Zcash, as well as a number of other cryptocurrencies run on – …
Altcoin / Sept. 28, 2018