ThePirateBay just got called out a week ago for pushing Coin-Hive.com’s Monero cryptocurrency mining script on their website, and it seems other major websites are following the example. Windscribe, a new and popular VPN provider, sent out emails today offering users of their Free VPN plan the option to trade mining hashes for Pro memberships.
Windscribe Beats Around the Mining Camp Bush.
Well, not exactly. Windscribe’s actual email that was sent out a few hours ago said they were offering free upgrades and premium memberships to users that were willing to help Windscribe “solve puzzles” by sharing some CPU power. Very cute and innocent like Sudoku, no? The email didn’t actually use the word “mine”, “mining”, or “hashes”.
However, once you followed the links in the email, the landing page was a bit less fantasized and even includes a link to a YouTube video that explains bitcoin mining plus a link directly to Coin-Hive.com’s Privacy Policy. There’s also a slider to adjust how much CPU you share with Windscribe. Here’s a screenshot:
Windscribe Mine for Upgrades Rewards from Trading in Points:
- 1,000,000 – Reset Monthly Bandwidth
- 10,000,000 – Extra +10GB/Month Bandwidth (permanent)
- 50,000,000 – One Month of Pro Membership
Windscribe Mining Rewards and Realistic Expectations:
I’ve had my 8-core AMD FX-8300 set to 20% for about 14 Hours and I’ve got about 500k points earned, so after about a day of mining I could reset my Windscribe bandwidth, and after 11-12 days of mining I could add another 10GB to my monthly bandwidth. It’s not a terrible trade – especially if you are smart and add 10GB bandwidth for the 10 million points first, and then just reset it for 1 million points as needed. If the 10GB upgrade can be bought multiple times, the benefits of the bandwidth reset for 1 millions points would be even more valuable!
Conclusion to Windscribe’s Mine for Upgrades Program
To be honest, I love Windscribe’s offer, including the silly email. It’s transparency regarding blatant cryptocurrency mass/hive mining for profit by it’s users is the complete opposite of what ThePirateBay recently did. I’m sure many other Windscribe users will agree with me – Users definitely like the option of being rewarded for being exploited for profit, rather than just being unknowingly and involuntarily exploited for profit. Go figure!
To learn more, check out the Mine for Upgrades link on the bottom of the Windscribe site and then sign up for a free a VPN and get mining!