It has been discovered that ESEA has been using its game client as a bitcoin miner to raise money without the consent of the users.

Last night, a user created a forum thread on ESEA's website exposing what could be considered as a scam as it was discovered that the ESEA client was being used as a bitcoin miner when the users were not playing any game.

Bitcoin (BTC) is a digital currency that can be transferred through any computer or smartphone without an intermediate financial institution and that can be exchanged for "real" money.

ESEA chief Eric "lpkane" Thunberg stated that a bitcoin miner had been coded into the client as some sort of an April Fools' joke but noted that it was only released by accident as they decided "it wasn't worth the potential drama" after running some tests on admin accounts.

Thunberg claimed the Bitcoin miner had been running for only 48 hours, which had earned ESEA some $280.

However, just hours later Thunberg commented on this issue again and revealed that ESEA had raised $3,602.21 since April 14th, which was when the miner was released.

As expected, animosity has escalated quickly in the community, with several users admitting that they have cancelled their subscriptions after unknowingly being involved in a scheme that allowed ESEA to raise money.

Some people have also complained about higher GPU usage, Blue Screens of Death and virus alerts over the past few days while running ESEA's client.



Thunberg added that as an apology, all money raised through the Bitcoin miner will be going to the prize pot of ESEA season 14 and that a free month's subscription code has been given to all Premium users.

