Coinhive
Finance and crypto
in-browser crypto mining
SHOW HN2017
212points
97comments
#147of 2,242 in 2017
Top 7%of 2017 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
12 positive, 29 neutral or asking, 7 mixed, 17 critical, out of 65 comments about the project. Thread score +0.02.
Performance: 2 for, 9 againstIdea: 8 for, 2 againstPricing: 0 for, 5 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Novel, opt-in-friendly alternative to ads
From 4 comments
I love this idea, congratulations on the launch.
zazibar on HNI think this is a really great idea! I'd rather have sites do this then bombard me with 10000 banners. Sure it increases my CPU load but I'd argue it reduces my cognitive load!
sharkhacks on HNI really like this, as there is opt in consent. Perhaps you could default the number of threads to `navigator.getHardwareConcurrency -1`
dannyw on HNThis is a novel method of monetisation. Instead of a paywall users could have the option to mine for the duration of their use of the content.
celticninja on HN
Captcha replacement for bot deterrence
From 2 comments
The captcha thing is great. I'm tired of annotating Googles Machine Learning Datasets for them!
dna_polymerase on HNThis is much better than I thought it would be. I wonder how many commentors actually tried the demos. Two of the three ways I could see on the page to use it involve delaying…
throwaway2016a on HN
Objections
Drains CPU, battery and fans; too heavy on devices
From 4 comments
running it makes my laptop fans turning to max
rihegher on HNIt's taking more than a minute for me to sign up on Coinhive because of the proof-of-work in their registration form. Definitely a no-no for computers older than 3 years.
fiatjaf on HNIt's creative approach to content monetization that solves some of the problems associated with ads, such as visual clutter. But mining is a computationally intensive process.…
winterlight on HNIf this is not clearly opt-in I wish those responsible for using it on their site a slow and painful death. Performance and bloat in browsers are a huge problem and having this…
tjoff on HN
Mining without clear consent is abusive
From 3 comments
If this is not clearly opt-in I wish those responsible for using it on their site a slow and painful death. Performance and bloat in browsers are a huge problem and having this…
tjoff on HNNo reason not to treat it just as badly as attempts to mine bitcoin off your CPU. Both of those waste your resources, for someone else's profits, without your consent.
TeMPOraL on HNIt is giving consent, in some sense. But make a popular website use visitors' browsers to launch a DDoS attack and you'll find that "anything goes as long as it's the bounds of…
clarry on HN
Earnings per visitor are tiny
From 3 comments
2-5 cents per 24 hours of a user being on your site seems like a bad tradeoff for the downsides.
detaro on HNto earn 0.01 USD you need 1MH at the moment. In my browser I can generate 25H/S so about 44 days on one browser to generate 1$
rihegher on HNRunning on 2015 Mac with Chrome, I got 75 H/s At the current exchange rate, that's about $3.78/month.
lgats on HN
Ad blockers would block it
From 1 comment
Cant imagine that anyone blocking ads wouldnt also block this
merkaloid on HN
Requests
Show earnings in USD rather than hash rate
From 1 comment
Just an advice, on your landing page, you have a miner ui, showing the hash rate. I wonder if you can change the hash rate to something more understandable, such as USD/hr?
billconan on HN
Default thread count to cores minus one
From 1 comment
I really like this, as there is opt in consent. Perhaps you could default the number of threads to `navigator.getHardwareConcurrency -1`
dannyw on HN
Self-hosting option for captcha validation
From 1 comment
How do I self host this? I can't deal with the type of overhead needed for validating the captcha across the network..
dylz on HN
Questions
How is it different from HashCash?
From 2 comments
This idea has been tried before (https://hashcash.io/). Question for the developers: 1. How is this attempt different from HashCash, aside from using Monero? 2. What are you…
dsacco on HN> 1. How is this attempt different from HashCash, aside from using Monero? I've never heard of either service, so I checked out both. One big difference between the two is that I…
dvdhnt on HN
Does the captcha prove a human is present?
From 2 comments
This is much better than I thought it would be. I wonder how many commentors actually tried the demos. Two of the three ways I could see on the page to use it involve delaying…
throwaway2016a on HNI'm also curious about the Captcha. It's a great idea, but what's to say that bots won't be able to run it as well?
xd1936 on HN
Can it be used for piracy sites and is that legal?
From 1 comment
What a great idea. Seems like a disruptive new revenue model for sites with good content. I wonder if it will be co-opted for use by sites offering pirated content, which raises…
eigenvalue on HN
Alternatives named
HashCash
From 1 comment
This idea has been tried before (https://hashcash.io/). Question for the developers: 1. How is this attempt different from HashCash, aside from using Monero? 2. What are you…
dsacco on HN
NiceHash
From 1 comment
That exists (for crypto mining). https://www.nicehash.com/
akx on HN
MinerGate
From 1 comment
I've heard some using MinerGate web mining in this way. Now, those same people can use Coin-Hive.
WhiteOwlLion on HN
ProHashing
From 1 comment
Also https://prohashing.com/
WhiteOwlLion on HN