Not to defend this practice at all, but when I was looking into crypto mining a fair bit ago, the bar to entry was quite large even for someone in the tech space. There didn't seem to be a simple app you just download and start. You have to know a lot of stuff. I don't know why more companies haven't come out and made crypto mining easier for the masses who just use apps but don't make them. It seems like low hanging fruit. There could be something available now...I haven't really researched as I'm not really passionate about this space and seemed more trouble than it was worth to get started with the time I was willing to put in. I just thought it was odd that there wasn't something with a simple interface you could just hit "mine" with maybe a couple of radio button options and away you go. I'm sure we will see a lot more larger/mainstream companies dipping their toes in, maybe even at the OS level to capitalize on it. There is a market for it and I'm guessing it's quite large, probably larger than the current crypto market which is kind of niche, just likely not many potential customers in the HN type crowd.