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NortonLIfeLock (NLOK) announced on Wednesday morning that it is launching a new feature for a select group of early customers of its Norton 360 platform that will allow them to mine Ethereum, the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency, on their personal computers.
“As the crypto economy continues to become a more important part of our customers’ lives, we want to enable them to mine cryptocurrency with Norton, a brand they trust,” said Vincent Pilette. , CEO of NortonLifeLock, in a statement.
NortonLifeLock is the consumer cybersecurity company formerly known as Symantec. The company changed its name after Broadcom (AVGO) bought the enterprise security software business (which focuses on large enterprise customers) from Symantec in 2019.
The new feature, dubbed Norton Crypto, will only be available to a small group of customers, but the company has said it hopes to expand it to all of its nearly 13 million Norton 360 users in the coming months.
“While the company will start slowly, with a focus on helping customers mine Ethereum securely, NortonLifeLock plans to add reputable cryptocurrencies in the future,” the company said in response to questions. from CNN.
While the company’s press release does not indicate whether it is looking to add other top cryptocurrencies, the company said it “will initially focus on the best cryptos that allow our members to get the highest award for their computational ability “.
Mining is not for the faint of heart
Crypto mining has generally been a risky business for average consumers. There have been concerns about their coins being stolen after disabling their security in order to run mining software. Individual minors are also at risk of having ransomware implanted on their PCs.
There is also the more mundane problem of people losing access to their crypto wallets due to lost passwords or hard drive crashes.
NortonLifeLock claims to have solved these issues with its Crypto Miner service because it provides additional security and also stores the crypto revenues in a Norton Crypto Wallet which is stored in the cloud as opposed to an individual’s hard drive on their PC.
“We are proud to be the first mainstream cybersecurity company to offer coin miners the ability to easily and securely turn their PC’s idle time into an opportunity to earn digital currency,” said Gagan Singh, Product Manager at NortonLifeLock, in the press. Release.
“With Norton Crypto, our customers can mine cryptocurrency with just a few clicks, avoiding many barriers to entry into the cryptocurrency ecosystem,” Singh added.
Hard times for crypto
The time of the news comes at a tumultuous time for the world of cryptocurrency investing. Bitcoin, ethereum, and other major cryptos suffered their biggest monthly drop in nearly a decade in May. Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk spooked investors last month when he announced that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment for its vehicles due to concerns about the environmental impact of the bitcoin mining, which tends to be energy intensive.
NortonLifeLock has not commented on concerns about crypto mining and the environment.
For his part, Musk eased his stance slightly after crypto bull Michael Saylor, CEO of software company MicroStrategy (MSTR) and major bitcoin investor, called a meeting between Musk and the executives of major bitcoin mining companies to solve energy consumption problems. However, concerns about increasing bitcoin regulations from China and the United States have also scared crypto investors of late.
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