Ad-blockers are handy but play havoc on sites dependent on an ad revenue model to exist. News sites have been particularly hard hit, with many introducing banners asking to turn off adblockers for their site. Salon.com is going a different route by introducing a “Suppress Ads” option which mines the cryptocurrency Monero by using readers’ PC’s processing power.

We reported websites such as The Pirate Bay doing this (although not asking first), but with Salon.com, a well-respected news and opinion site asking readers to help mine cryptocurrency, it might just become a serious trend.

In their FAQ page concerning the Suppress Ads option, Salon notes, “For our beta program, we’ll start by applying your processing power to mine cryptocurrencies to recoup lost ad revenue when you use an ad blocker.” The site will detect the processing power a visitor is using, and then use some of the spare power to run calculations in the background. Although no software is installed (the process is controlled using Coinhive according to Fortune) it does mean visitors will use more electricity and processing power if choosing this option. When leaving the site, the process stops.

If users do not want to turn off their adblocker, or opt to suppress ads, Salon.com notes that an “ad free tablet, mobile and streaming paid app” will soon go live.