Google bans cryptocurrency mining browser extensions from Chrome

Internet giant Google which also releases the popular Chrome browser has banned all cryptocurrency mining extensions from its store. The company announced its decision on Monday.

Google said that it would start removing the existing extensions which facilitate mining from July.

Previously, Google allowed those extensions which were solely dedicated to mining and explicitly told their users of their purpose. However, many extensions breached the guidelines and policy was failing to keep out the noncompliant extensions.

The extreme step was prompted largely because a majority of mining extensions submitted to the Chrome Web Store failed to comply with its sole-usage policy, Wired reported.

"The key to maintaining a healthy extensions ecosystem is to keep the platform open and flexible. This empowers our developers to build creative and innovative customizations for Chrome browser users," said James Wagner, Google's extensions platform product manager, talking to the tech publication.

"This is why we chose to defer banning extensions with cryptomining scripts until it became clear that the vast majority of mining extensions submitted for review failed to comply with our single purpose policy or were malicious."

The problem of cryptojacking—the technical jargon used for cryptocurrency mining without the express permission or knowledge of users—emerged about six months back and has since been discussed by the developers of Chromium project, the open source browser on which Chrome is based on.

The announcement by Google follows the ban on cryptocurrency advertisements which Google announced last month. It said the new policy would be active from July.

The company said that ads for binary options and synonymous products, cryptocurrencies and related content, including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice will no longer be allowed to serve.