Another First for Epic and Web Browsers: Blocking Cryptomining

Epic is the first web browser to now actively block the most popular cryptomining scripts including Coinhive (~75% of the cryptomining market) and others. Please note that Epic doesn’t block all possible cryptomining. That would be difficult since cryptomining uses functions in javascript that can have legitimate uses. It’s still a good practice to close tabs with websites you don’t trust regularly, especially if you see your CPU usage going up.

A cryptomining script is javascript-based code that runs in the web browser to use your computer’s CPU and potentially your GPU to mine for cryptocurrency. Most cryptomining scripts mine for Monero since CPU-based mining is still effective. For other cryptocurrencies such as BitCoin, ASIC-based mining dominates such that even GPU-based mining is usually not very efficient.

With the extraordinary rise in the value of cryptocurrencies, many websites have added cryptomining scripts to make money. Several websites including Showtime, TuneProtect and the Pirate Bay have been hacked in order to inject cryptomining scripts into webpages. If you use extensions in Chrome or Firefox and see your CPU usage going up (or your system getting hot), it may be because one of those extensions is also using your system to mine a cryptocurrency.