[hombre_fatal]

I'm not sure how it's a perfect alternative. It seems worse on almost every dimension.

You're stuck between running this miner covertly (scummy) or asking for permission (who is going to click yes?).

How much of Coinhive's income comes from users who are unknowingly running the code? It seems like a move towards more user-hostility, not less.

The one time I saw an actual fit for the end user was an online game that would let you turn on the miner to win in-game coins. Who else can pull off an opt-in?

[hasloi]

The 0x00sec.org security forum has/had this effort to mine coins to keep the site ad-free. From the comments[1] users seem to have been happy to help.

[1]https://0x00sec.org/t/mine-for-the-community/3709

[randartie]

I routinely disable my adblock for certain news websites because they tell me to, otherwise I can't see their content. Websites asking for 'opt-in' does work. It works on me all the time.

[hombre_fatal]

Sure, and you are unique in this regard. Just look the developments of counter-antiadblocker rules making it on to Easylist. People don't even see those pleas.

Of course, the other issue is that this was only feasible under very specific and temporary circumstances, so it cannot be the answer to ads. Coinhive is done. The experiment failed.