Norton Antivirus software and the company that makes it, NortonLifeLock, best known for being annoyingly bundled into new Windows computers, announced in a press release that they intend to bundle a feature they call “Norton ™ Crypto”.
What can be extracted
The rumored feature will be added to Norton360 starting today to allow "early adopters" to start pulling from already installed software.
Also, in a very calm tone, they state that they also package an ethereum wallet which will be securely stored in the "cloud" so that it won't get lost.
They do not specify any minimum processing requirements but say: "Norton Crypto should become available to all Norton 360 customers in the coming weeks".
So while this comes as a bit of a desperate attempt to try to maintain relevance after probably millions of forced installations were never monetized (just a guess), it nevertheless could send millions of civilians to cryptocurrency mining with "Just a few clicks".
This immediately raises so many questions that it's a little mind-boggling. Although early media reactions, predictably, mention "environmental" issues and take a negative tone, doubting why anyone would want to risk "taxing" the computer's GPU for such a task.
Of course questions such as how mining efficiency would be affected by millions of "micro-miners" there is also the question of why an antivirus software subscriber would not want to use the resources of their idle computer to pay for the software itself. happy Norton executives congratulating themselves on the brilliant idea).
Could there be another interesting story here?
Mainstream experience with cryptocurrencies, demystification of the blockchain? Later and more interesting. If more traditional software companies and even service subscription software companies follow suit and millions if not hundreds of millions of average people start reaping Ethereum "dividends" for small months, even if only € 10 a month , how easy is it to put the Genie back in the bottle, so to speak?
When millions do not "irresponsibly" use dollars or euros to buy cryptocurrencies, but rather "earn" a few dollars more, once the coins are exchanged for "real" local currencies (read: fiat), here and there for every computer or GPU they own, the whole thing, like green stamps, airline miles, credit card loyalty program can suddenly be outlawed?
As it appears more and more everywhere on a daily basis, are cryptocurrencies, via Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many various alternative currencies, not increasingly intertwined in the financial system? Isn't the number of people who own, buy or even mine cryptocurrencies exploding exponentially on a daily basis?
This is not just another sign that the trend of cryptocurrencies to become "normalized" and woven deeper and deeper into the fabric of our lives is not destined to reverse herself? Yes. This is the answer. Other news will follow.
