The Chrome Web Store is a hotbed of sketchy browser extensions, with seemingly little intervention from Google (except for the occasional crack-down). The company already takes down extensions that secretly mine cryptocurrency, but now it is going a step further. Starting today, all extensions that mine cryptocurrency will be barred from the Chrome Web Store.

The new ban even includes extensions where crypto mining is the primary feature. Existing mining extensions will be removed in late June, but the rule does not affect other blockchain-related tools. Google says about 90% of all crypto-mining extensions did not comply with Web Store policies, meaning they did not properly inform users what they were doing. As such, the company is pulling the plug on all of them.

This is the latest move in the tech industry's fight against background cryptocurrency mining. Opera began blocking crypto miners in January, and many users have turned to extensions like uBlock Origin and NoCoin to disable them.

Source: Chromium Blog