E-sports organization fined for hidden Bitcoin miner

Esports organization ESEA has been fined nearly a million dollars for quietly mining Bitcoins through its software client. Two-thirds of these are conditional. Thirty Bitcoins were mined with the software.

The $1 million fine is the result of a settlement between ESEA and the American judiciary. Of the million dollars, $325,000 must be tapped immediately; the rest is conditional and only needs to be paid if the organization goes wrong again in the next ten years.

ESEA, a big name in the e-sports world, added the Bitcoin miner to its software used for its anti-cheat service. With this, the organization ‘infected’ 14,000 gamers and the use of the computer was monitored, according to the American justice. A total of thirty Bitcoins were generated. Today, they would be worth around $16,000, but ESEA’s breach happened in the spring, when the Bitcoin price was still a lot lower. Therefore, the organization would have earned $3500.

According to US justice, one of the co-founders was involved in the plot to add the Bitcoin miner, but ESEA denies that. According to ESEA, the developer who added the functionality worked alone and has since been fired.