Google erroneously banned a cryptocurrency mining app with 1M+ downloads

In an effort to curb the spread of crypto-jacking software, Google updated its terms of service in July to ban on-device cryptocurrency mining apps from the Play Store. Unfortunately, it appears that (in addition to a slew of mining apps) the internet giant has erroneously banned some legitimate apps – including one with over a million installs.

The removed app – MinerGate – originally offered both on-device mining and a remote cloud mining management functionality. To comply with the updated terms of service from the Big G, MinerGate removed the on-device mining feature from its app.

“Mining on your phone directly was among the core features of the MinerGate app before the last changes in Google Play Development policies,” a MinerGate spokesperson told Hard Fork. “With the last update, we are removing this functionality to meet the updated requirements.” Despite that, Google proceeded to purge the app from the Play Store.

At the time…