Cryptocurrency is a hype, and there are a lot of people that want to benefit from the trend using cryptojacking.
The process is by using scripts that run in the background without consent, consuming valuable computing resources to mine cryptocurrency. Google has allowed extensions to mine cryptocurrencies, but in recent times, the company found that about 90 percent of extensions that include mining scripts, don't follow its rules.
The company also found an increase in "malicious extensions" which appear to be useful extensions, but actually have hidden malicious cryptocurrency mining scripts inside them.
Google isn't liking them, and here it wants to stop them by blocking all extensions that include mining scripts in the Chrome Web Store.
In a blog post, Google’s extensions platform product manager James Wagner said:
Those mining scripts can be dangerous, as they can cause computers to slow down and even overheat due to running rigorous calculations needed to mine the digital tokens. Companies and hackers have also been known to embed coin mining scripts in public websites to appropriate computational power from unsuspecting browsers.
What's more, some have also been developed to steal users' personal information and browsing activities.
For this reason, Google chooses to ban them entirely.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat, and some others have banned advertising for initial coin offerings (ICO) or other cryptocurrency-related products. While Google also has banned ads related to the digital tokens, it's still allowing blockchain-related purposes other than mining to be in the Web Store.
So here, Google is a little soft on the issue.