Opera Introduces NoCoin Feature to Block Cryptocurrency Miners

Opera is set to become the first browser to offer built-in protection against cryptocurrency miners embedded in websites. This new feature, called NoCoin, is currently in development and is included in Opera 50 Beta RC. It is expected to be available in the stable release of Opera 50, scheduled for January 2018, according to Bleeping Computer.

NoCoin is part of Opera’s integrated ad blocker. By default, the ad blocker is turned off, so users will need to enable it to take advantage of the NoCoin feature. Opera’s decision to add miner protection was prompted by the emergence of the Coinhive service. Launched in September of this year, Coinhive allows website owners to use their visitors’ computer resources to mine Monero cryptocurrency directly in the browser.

Growing Threat of Browser-Based Mining

Currently, Coinhive is used on thousands of websites. Many of these sites have been hacked and use visitors’ computing power without their consent. While Coinhive was the first service of its kind, it is no longer the only one. New copycat services are appearing almost every week, with HashUnited being one of the latest.

Industry Response to Mining Scripts

The issue has caught the attention of not only Opera’s developers but also Google engineers. In October, Google began discussing the possibility of adding a feature to Chrome that would request user permission before running JavaScript code that uses significant CPU resources.

Users of other browsers can protect themselves from miners by using special extensions or ad blockers, many of which have also added features to block mining scripts.