Why did Google Play Store remove all Bitcoin mining apps?

Recently, Google announced its latest move against cryptocurrencies, removing all Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining apps from the Play Store, a decision that comes just a few months after it banned all mining extensions on the Chrome browser.

Google announced the decision on the Play Store’s developer policy page, saying, “We prohibit apps that mine cryptocurrency, but allow apps that remotely manage cryptocurrency mining .”

That is, while users can no longer mine directly from their own devices, Google still allows developers to release applications that can mine elsewhere, such as cloud-based computer platforms.

The rise of mining

The popularity of cryptocurrency mining soared during the crypto market bull run at the end of 2017. The mining boom led to a sharp increase in GPU sales, which resulted in increased profits for GPU manufacturers such as Nvidia, causing their stock prices to soar.

The mining process consumes a large amount of computing power, and its profitability is directly related to the processing power that miners can devote. Due to the huge expenses caused by large equipment and electricity costs, the opportunity to obtain highly profitable mining equipment is very limited.

The decision to ban mining extensions in Chrome and mining apps in the Play Store was probably made in consideration of the damage they could cause to the device.

Both phones and computers can suffer internal damage from mining if not managed properly. The risks of mining have been further highlighted by the impact of mining malware, which has been widespread on public Wi-Fi networks and websites over the past year.

Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab recently reported on the effects of Monero mining on a laptop. According to their report, the device suffered from battery swelling within two days, which further led to damage to the computer casing.

This isn’t the first time Google has spoken out against cryptocurrency

In March, CNBC reported that Google was banning all cryptocurrency-related ads on its platform. The ban is similar in structure to the bans on cryptocurrency ads by social media giants Twitter and Facebook, and is intended to reduce the number of scams promoted through Google's search platform, however, it also prohibits legitimate cryptocurrency businesses from placing ads, such as Coinbase and Binance.

Scott Spencer, director of sustainable advertising at Google, said of the decision, “We can’t predict the future direction of cryptocurrency, but we have seen a large number of consumers being harmed or put at risk, so we want to be extremely cautious in this area. ”

Less than a month after banning cryptocurrency ads, Google announced that they will no longer accept Chrome extensions that mine cryptocurrencies.

Google announced the decision in a blog post: "Starting today, the Chrome Web Store will no longer accept extensions that mine cryptocurrency. Existing mining extensions will be removed from the Chrome Web Store by the end of June. The Web Store will continue to allow blockchain-related extensions that are not intended for mining."

Will Google Whitelist Legitimate Cryptocurrency Businesses?

In response to rumors earlier this week that Google had followed in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter and began whitelisting certain cryptocurrency companies, allowing them to run ads, Google Ads said that "ads promoting cryptocurrency and related content may not be run through Google Ads."

In the future, will Google formulate policies to allow legitimate cryptocurrency-related companies to develop mining applications, extensions, and place advertisements? This remains to be seen.