Do not waste your time on cloud mining apps, most likely a scam

[promise444c5]

I was expecting you will address the “Cloud Mining “ because i used to misinterpret it while I was kinda getting to know how the whole thing works.. Since you did , I will pass to your question.

When did the term "cloud mining" become a pyramid or Ponzi scheme?" and,"Which came first: real cloud mining or fake cloud mining?".

It’s just two words and can be used for a lot of exploits..It doesn’t matter what you understand it to be.
To some, it’s just words and can be preached to them as anything. “Bitcoin” is also used for scamming, apart from generalizing it as “crypto,” which is also used for modern-day robbery these days.

Which came first? Does it matter? Like I said, it’s just two words that can be given a lot of interpretations..But why would you think it would be used for a certain type of scam if it doesn’t have a legitimate usage side which serves as an effective hook?

[Peanutswar]

Its 2026 and still there are people hoping to get a free money with these cloud minings. Way back i was this kind of person before such the era of 2019 and after they require a subscription, and referral after to meet the minimum withdrawal thats the time I stopped already using these kind of platform and considered as a waste of time.

Lately upon exploring here in the community that on that time most of my efforts just a useless because could be classified as ponzi scheme. You can withdraw if you invite more people who invite too just to withdraw their mined coins.

[michellee]

If the ads is too good to be true, you should suspicious because no fast money coming to you unless you have much business and produce passive income. I remember cloud mining explode in the few years ago.

It needs education to those people so they understand that cloud mining apps is not works.

Related to your question, I think real cloud mining came first then fake cloud mining or both came together. But it is difficult to know the real one unless you try it.

[ultrloa]

Its 2026 and still there are people hoping to get a free money with these cloud minings. Way back i was this kind of person before such the era of 2019 and after they require a subscription, and referral after to meet the minimum withdrawal thats the time I stopped already using these kind of platform and considered as a waste of time.

Lately upon exploring here in the community that on that time most of my efforts just a useless because could be classified as ponzi scheme. You can withdraw if you invite more people who invite too just to withdraw their mined coins.

Only lazy people think that way, if they just do some research about cloudmining they could get lots of good result that can help them to determine those programs is not worth it to invest.

To many scams happen with this before and even now, then its crazy for them even if they know that cloudmining is scam but yet they are still willing to invest then take a risk.

Most of those programs running are pure ponzi schemes. If they want to save their selves from scams better not to go or think about investing in this option, much better if they buy Bitcoin and hold it since there's a chance that they can earn realistic profits than those ponzi schemes cloudmining out there.

[LTU_btc]

Let's not underestimate how gullible some people can be on the internet, especially with their 'get rich quick' mentality. It's usually those who are new to Bitcoin (or crypto in general) that are most likely to fall for such scams.

I admit that I don't feel much sympathy for these people who fall into these scams. Yeah, I know I sound like old cynic. I also was newbie, same as everyone, but somehow I didn't fall into these scams because I didn't had get rich quick mentality. I don't to be smartass who is better than others, I just hate that peeople are feeding scammers and give away their hard earned money with easy hand and it looks that these things will never end.

[Cookdata]

If the ads is too good to be true, you should suspicious because no fast money coming to you unless you have much business and produce passive income. I remember cloud mining explode in the few years ago.

It needs education to those people so they understand that cloud mining apps is not works.

Related to your question, I think real cloud mining came first then fake cloud mining or both came together. But it is difficult to know the real one unless you try it.

I don't really think people still do cloud mining like back then. There is this nonsense thing they called telegram mining where people use their phones to do all sort of task to keep tier phones busy, that started from Pi, when people use their phone to mine coin and I'm surprised if people actually know what is even mining and if it's possible with phones. Most people that you see around that engage mining apps clearly don't have understanding that of what they are doing.

There is nothing like phone mining or cloud mining, there is nothing like deposit of collateral to mine anywhere, all this are strategies for scams when Bitcoin wasn't this popular, lots of gullible people fell for this and lost all their money and you know what's the most useless thing about them, they give tiers on deposits of Bitcoin and the amount you can end. Sometimes if they explain some scams for you, it will be funny as hell and stupid at the same time.

[Zlantann]

I don't really think people still do cloud mining like back then. There is this nonsense thing they called telegram mining where people use their phones to do all sort of task to keep tier phones busy, that started from Pi, when people use their phone to mine coin and I'm surprised if people actually know what is even mining and if it's possible with phones. Most people that you see around that engage mining apps clearly don't have understanding that of what they are doing.

There is nothing like phone mining or cloud mining, there is nothing like deposit of collateral to mine anywhere, all this are strategies for scams when Bitcoin wasn't this popular, lots of gullible people fell for this and lost all their money and you know what's the most useless thing about them, they give tiers on deposits of Bitcoin and the amount you can end. Sometimes if they explain some scams for you, it will be funny as hell and stupid at the same time.

This Telegram mining was so popular that even grandparents who knew nothing about crypto were seriously engaging in it. There was a type of so-called crypto mining that involves tapping the screen of phones. It was common to see people tapping their phones while walking on the road. At the end, it became clear that most creators of these apps just wanted social media engagements and nothing more. People just wasted their time and resources on data.

Anyone who comes up with an advert that Bitcoin can be mined with phones should be arrested instantly. They are simple deceiving and defrauding people. I know someone who resigned from his full-time job because he wanted to concentrate on these phone mining activities. Even powerful laptops cannot mine some cheap coins. Most people who are convinced by these fraudulent mining app platforms are either ignorant or greedy.

[PrivacyG]

So, my question is: "When did the term "cloud mining" become a pyramid or Ponzi scheme?" and,"Which came first: real cloud mining or fake cloud mining?".

Cloud Mining was only slightly real as in there were one or two Services actually providing real Cloud Mining.  The rest of them, which is probably as little as 95 percent of them, were only Scams.  It was easy to fool people in to investing in your Scam platform because Mining implicitly means you have to wait a while until you see any result.

So you end up investing like an idiot until you realize the time to Withdraw your 'earnings' never comes or you are never allowed to actually Withdraw any thing.  The Money you invest goes to the Scammers and you see an increasing figure there, in the back end every thing works as if you are actually doing something, but in reality it is a count down until you realize you were the victim of a Scam.

I can for example not name even ONE such platform that was actually legitimately offering Cloud Mining Services.  I know there were one or two around, but they were buried deep in the rest of the Scams.

[Asuspawer09]

Not to confuse with the legitimate one, there are still some projects that is legitimate where you could somehow mine some tokens, for sure it wasn't Bitcoin just some tokens that doesn't have value yet and you might get lucky if it even get listed on some exchange or platforms, but as long as there are legitimate projects it is a legitimate token, but the risk is you just dont know if it is worth the hassle since they dont really have value even if they get listed value might be so low.

Other applications that promise to mine Bitcoin were surely a scam application, there was no way you could actually do cloud mining to mine Bitcoin, and beside it was already an easy way for hackers to compromise your phone since you are installing an application if it contain virus or something, then your phone is already finished. It is mostly easy to spot, but the best thing to do is just dont get involved on this kind of cloud mining anymore. In my experience there aren't worth it anymore, even for the legitimate ones.

[DPHOR]

To be frank, I do not really values all these app called mining apps because what you would get at last is getting scammed because they would want to lure you Inside letting you waste your time and effort to keep visiting the app and anticipating all forms of activity but would also asked you to upgrade maybe to their higher service in order to enable you make withdrawal from their app. I could remembered back then, when I downloaded few mining apps and was told I could get access to my found when having to accumulate a specific fraction of Bitcoin then could have withdraw, but then I never it wasn't going to be so.

[Lucius]

NEVER WASTE YOUR TIME ON CLOUD MINING APPS ! Very High potential to be a scam !

It is not very likely that this is a scam, but it is 100% a scam without any doubt. The fact that such scam schemes are still successful speaks to the fact that a lot of people don't even understand the basics and can't explain the difference between Bitcoin and blockchain. Mining on smartphones, selling watch only wallets, demanding a deposit so that some fictitious funds can be withdrawn from the account, love scams and a lot more that scammers use to steal cryptocurrencies.

This is a reality that needs to be fought against - who knows, maybe someone who reads this thread will realize in time that they are on their way to being scammed and save themselves in time.

[Davidvictorson]

It is not just about cloud mining app, but including everything that is called clue mining.

I think you meant cloud mining here

Since I have known about bitcoin and other coins few years ago, what I know about cloud mining is that they are the honeypots of scammers. They will tell you that it is free, you will join and see premium services thier just to attract you to pay them money. Almost all if them more than 99.99% among them are scam. People are only wasting their money or time on the them.

And yes, I agree here. They are all scams and fraudulent. I remember many years ago, someone tried to convince me to get it. I would have and regretted it but thankfully, I couldn't afford the fee then and that lack was what saved me.

[Bobrox]

To be frank, I do not really values all these app called mining apps because what you would get at last is getting scammed because they would want to lure you Inside letting you waste your time and effort to keep visiting the app and anticipating all forms of activity but would also asked you to upgrade maybe to their higher service in order to enable you make withdrawal from their app. I could remembered back then, when I downloaded few mining apps and was told I could get access to my found when having to accumulate a specific fraction of Bitcoin then could have withdraw, but then I never it wasn't going to be so.

Based on the OP story that website put the label of mining to make many people interested for installing app and offering high until fast return if make deposit, usually the trusted mining app not require for deposit fund and you can earn based on your mobile phone specification and how most active your phone after installing the mining app to earn coins.
Last four years ago have new project Electrenum and fully mining not require deposit or buy any level to increase mining reward, its purely based on how most active your phone connected with internet and you can withdraw without make deposit the coins already listing at many exchange market. If any mining app offering reward but require deposit its fully scam the reward return based on how many user make deposit and that app mining not have any fund without fund deposit from user.

[Cryptomultiplier]

To be frank, I do not really values all these app called mining apps because what you would get at last is getting scammed because they would want to lure you Inside letting you waste your time and effort to keep visiting the app and anticipating all forms of activity but would also asked you to upgrade maybe to their higher service in order to enable you make withdrawal from their app. I could remembered back then, when I downloaded few mining apps and was told I could get access to my found when having to accumulate a specific fraction of Bitcoin then could have withdraw, but then I never it wasn't going to be so.

I was even introduced to a sort of mining game by a friend that promised that after playing the game to some extent and having accumulated enough of the coins they use on the app, it can be converted to real crypto currency.
I did try my best and had to watch a lot of advert videos just to progress from one stage to the other, but no end seemed sure in sight and it was just a way to gather traffic or make some gains by the developers, because I wonder how many persons would have fallen into the trap of thinking they were actually mining coins by playing the games, without knowing otherwise.

[Pmalek]

It's 2026 outside the window, does people still fall into cloud mining scams? It's a bit unbeleavable for me.

Sure they do. I don't see why they wouldn't. We who have been involved with bitcoin and crypto for years know what to watch out for, but those who enter the scene via the wrong channels and with many misconceptions in their heads because of the incorrect information they have been fed could very likely become victims of cloud mining schemes or other scams. Don't forget that it's more common for people to invest time and money in something and only then ask if they made a mistake instead of performing research beforehand. It's unfortunate.

[nakamura12]

I am sure that cloud mining is just a scam. They don't actually provide mining rigs that users can rent in the cloud. What they do is basically spin users' money around and use new users' funds to pay returns to old users, and so on. If there is a problem, they will surely say that there is network maintenance or increased difficulties, so they adjust their services and make users pay more for something that never existed in the first place.

I never believed in cloud mining from the beginning because I thought it was just too good and too easy --- anything that is too easy must have something behind it, and most likely it is a scam to attract people who want to make money quickly.

I also believe that it is a scam. It emerge around 2018 although I am not sure about the year 2017 since I started bitcoin on 2018 but I can assure that cloud mining is a scam because I have tried it myself before and never got a single cent. Maybe I find the wrong cloud mining before but most of it are not that's why I just prefer doing the faucet which I did get a small amount after a long time before I stopped claiming faucet. As of now, whenever I see one is I don't believe it and wouldn't fall for it.

[bhadz]

I admit that I don't feel much sympathy for these people who fall into these scams. Yeah, I know I sound like old cynic. I also was newbie, same as everyone, but somehow I didn't fall into these scams because I didn't had get rich quick mentality. I don't to be smartass who is better than others, I just hate that peeople are feeding scammers and give away their hard earned money with easy hand and it looks that these things will never end.

That is fine if you don't feel much sympathy for them. That's their mistake and if they don't do due diligence, they're mostly going to fall for it. I've fallen for this before but those are countable by fingers and never did it again. I guess it will be the same for these victims once they have realized that they did a mistake, they're not falling for it anymore. But as time passes by, we're still seeing more and more victims that are falling for this one. It seems that people don't utilize the usage of internet nowadays and don't search when they've found sketchy money opportunities in the internet such as fake cloud mining.

[Mar1a]

Conclusion: You should avoid this mining (fake) app, or any similar app. It is just a waste of your time without producing any results. I am convinced most cloud mining sites are scams.

It is amazing how these "phone mining" scams still attract so many people in 2026. Anyone who understands the basics of Proof of Work knows that a smartphone simply doesn't have the hashpower to mine Bitcoin effectively. These apps are basically just ad-revenue machines for the developers.

The point about "resetting progress" is a classic move. They wait until you are close to the minimum withdrawal and then wipe the data to avoid paying out. Thanks for the heads up and for doing the research on these Google Play reviews — hopefully, this prevents some beginners from wasting their time and battery life