CryptoTab Browser Review: Google Chrome bitcoin mining extension
CryptoTab Browser provides no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.
The CryptoTab Browser website domain (“cryptobrowser.site”) was privately registered on April 5th, 2018.
As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.
CryptoTab Browser Products
CryptoTab Browser has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market CryptoTab Browser affiliate membership itself.
The CryptoTab Browser Compensation Plan
CryptoTab Browser affiliates provide the company full-access to their PCs in exchange for bitcoin.
CryptoTab Browser pays residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.
A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):
If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.
If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
CryptoTab Browser caps payable unilevel team levels at ten.
Residual commissions are paid out as a percentage of funds paid to unilevel team members as follows:
- level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) – 15%
- level 2 – 10%
- level 3 – 5%
- level 4 – 3%
- level 5 – 2%
- level 6 – 1%
- level 7 – 0.5%
- level 8 – 0.25%
- level 9 – 0.125%
- level 10 – 0.0625%
Joining CryptoTab Browser
CryptoTab Browser affiliate membership is free.
Conclusion
The attraction of installing a browser, something something hey we’re all going to be rich is undeniable.
As they say however, the devil is in the details.
CryptoTab Browser affiliates download a copy of Google Chrome with the company’s “mining” extension pre-installed.
CryptoTab Browser claim to use CPU/GPU power available through their extension for bitcoin mining, but in reality this computing power could be used for anything.
The reason CryptoTab Browser has affiliates download Chrome with their extension pre-installed, is because it’s likely the extension wouldn’t pass scrutiny on the Google Store.
As a CryptoTab Browser affiliate you’re essentially handing over the keys of your computer to persons unknown.
And if that sounds like something only a complete dumbass ignorant of basic security practices would do, it’s because it is.
In return for putting their personal data at risk and essentially providing CryptoTab Browser’s anonymous owners with a botnet, affiliates are literally paid cents:
Payment evidence in bitcoin provided on the CryptoTab Browser website shows most payments are to three or four decimal places (less than $1 in general).
Bear in mind there’s no reference point for these payments. How many hours the browser was left running and/or whether commission payments are factored in isn’t clear.
Also unclear is how much CryptoTab Browser themselves skim off the top.
What is clear is that bitcoin mining hasn’t been profitable for most miners for some time. So temper your expectations accordingly.
Personally I can’t see an individual browser mining bitcoin to the extent basic electricity costs are covered. But perhaps that’s not a consideration for CryptoTab Browser’s affiliates, most of whom appear to be in third-world countries.
Alexa currently estimates the highest sources of traffic to the CryptoTab Browser website are Iran (11%), Brazil (9%), Angola (6%), Venezuela (4%) and India (4%).
Perhaps for affiliates in these countries electricity costs aren’t a concern. Either way what CryptoTab Browser boils down to is granting access to your computer to complete randoms over the internet, in exchange for a few cents.
For most people that should be a no-brainer. Yet the CryptoTab Browser website currently has an Alexa rank of 589 (that’s almost top 500 globally).
Oh dear.
This one is real dodgy and you don’t use your computer for anything else like shopping, paying bills or personal browsing then you may be ok but think long and hard before handing over the keys to your entire PC and ask yourself is it worth the pennies you are making per day to have a program monitor and possibly log every single action you perform?
The biggest red flag is having to download a modified version of the Chrome Browser rather than add an extension to an up to date Chrome Browser as that previous version may still have the security flaws or issues that required Google to update in the first place.
Think very carefully before doing this and for Gods sake do not use the same Browser to make purchases or check personal information.
You have been warned.
It’s worth nothing that
1) Google has banned all cryptomining extensions from its extension store back in April 2018
NOLINK://techcrunch.com/2018/04/02/google-is-banning-all-cryptomining-extensions-from-its-chrome-web-store/
2) Chrome actually does NOT allow preinstalled extensions.
NOLINKS://developer.chrome.com/extensions/single_purpose
Therefore, this is NOT using Chrome, but rather, Chromium, the open-source version of Chrome that’s considered always “beta” and without the best Google features like auto-update.
I have been using CryptoTab for 2 months. I make about $15 monthly on my I7 8400 processor.
I use my solar panel backup system in my home so my power cost is zero. I’m pretty happy with it.
Meanwhile who knows what anonymous people from who knows where have done with your computer…