Salon is now using their reader’s spare computing power to mine cryptocurrency.

Salon, a popular progressive website, has introduced a new feature that harnesses the spare computing power of its reader’s devices to mine cryptocurrency. Salon’s cryptocurrency of choice is Monero, a coin that is popular for its focus on anonymity.

When visiting Salon’s website, readers are now presented with the option to either turn off their ad blocker or to “suppress ads,” which means handing over your spare computing power to mine Monero.

Mining is a process that involves the solving of complex mathematical problems exist to help complete other transactions that are being sent on the network.

An explainer on the Salon website describes how the mining process helps the publication earn revenue in the absence of advertisements.

For our beta program, we’ll start by applying your processing power to mine cryptocurrencies to recoup lost ad revenue when you use an ad blocker. We plan to further use any learnings from this to help support the evolution and growth of blockchain technology, digital currencies and other ways to better service the value exchange between content and user contribution. Your unused processing power are the resources you already have but are not actively using to it’s full potential at the time of browsing salon.com. Mining uses more of your resources which means your computer works a bit harder and uses more electricity than if you were just passively browsing the site with ads.

Some view the practice as controversial, others argue it may revolutionize the way in which digital publications make money.

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