A fake-MrBeast-powered "cloud mining" app: 170k installs, top-grossing in 14 countries. Understand it, don't copy it.
What it is A "cloud mining" app on Google Play: you watch ads to earn hash power, spend $0.99–$199.99 on mining rigs, and once you've accumulated a few thousand sats of Bitcoin you can cash out over the Lightning Network.
Why it took off AI face-swapped MrBeast ads promising "$200 on download, $6000 more when you wake up" ran at scale. Free users watch rewarded videos, paying users buy rigs. Small cash-outs really do pay out, the rating holds at 4.3, and the low bar for top-grossing charts in small countries got it into 14 markets.
EHow you could approach it Don't copy it. The only thing worth taking is the monetization structure: rewarded videos to speed up progress, plus in-app purchases to speed up further. Put that into an idle game that openly says it's a game and makes no cash-out promises, and test paying users cheaply in low-barrier Top Grossing markets like South Africa and Nigeria.
- Data (updated daily) · first launch 2026-08-19 · 11-07 installs 171,688
Android · Total installs worldwide Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.Android · Ratings count (cumulative) Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
Cloud Hashrate Hub is a "cloud mining" app on Google Play: you watch ads for hashrate, buy "miners" with money, and withdraw once you've saved a few thousand sats of Bitcoin. Since listing 79 days ago it has 170k installs, and it added 25k in the last 8 days. It's charted in utility Top Grossing in 14 stores including South Africa, Nigeria, the Philippines, the UK, and the US. It's not the product that got it going. It's the AI face-swapped MrBeast ads, collecting money from both ad views and miner sales, plus withdrawals that actually send a few cents. At least a dozen apps like this are on Play, and they look nearly identical. Below: how it runs, why it reaches Top Grossing, what's worth learning, and why I wouldn't follow it.
"The ad says I woke up $6,000 richer"
In Sep 2026 4, a US user, Brent Tremain, gave it one star and opened with four "liar"s: "The ad for this app says I woke up 6,000 dollars richer." Yet the withdrawal threshold in the app is just over 0.00002 BTC, a gap of several orders of magnitude. 60 people marked the review helpful.
Over the next two months the same name kept showing up in the reviews. In Sep 20 someone wrote: "The MrBeast ad for this app doesn't match what they say, and it claims up to 3,000 dollars a day." In Oct 12 it was more direct: "They use an AI face-swap of MrBeast to lure you into downloading." Other reviews cited ad promises: $200, $500, and $1,000 for downloading, paid straight to PayPal. Many said they never got it, and PayPal was never supported.
(Google Play US reviews, 9-04 to 11-04.)
MrBeast never made an app like this. The ads take his face and voice without permission.
What it is, and where the money comes from
The store listing is careful: "remote cloud computing power management tool," all computation happens in external clouds, the phone's CPU and GPU don't mine, returns aren't promised, and no trading is done. In practice it works differently:
- Watch ads for hashrate. One rewarded video gives "1TH/s for 5 minutes." Someone worked out each video is worth only 6GH/s. A UK user wrote in Sep 13: "I know nothing about Bitcoin, watched a few ads, and in two days mined 2 sats."
- Sell miners. In-app prices run from $0.99 to $199.99. Someone bought a "$10 lifetime pack, 680GH/s"; another "spent roughly $50 on the mining bot"; another "topped up with a $50 Google card and earns about 15 cents a day." In Sep 27 a two-star review did the math: even spending $199 on the top tier, you'd only make $6 in 1 months.
- Withdrawals. Only via the Bitcoin Lightning Network, and only to Speed Wallet's
@speed.appaddress, minimum around 0.00002 BTC. Some people did report it: "Already withdrew 1,000 sats to my Speed wallet" (10-08). Others say you must pay another $478 or $498 before withdrawing (9-15, 9-23). I haven't verified that.
So money comes from two sides. Non-payers watch rewarded ads, and the developer takes the ad revenue share. Payers buy miners, which is IAP revenue. Small withdrawals do arrive, so some people keep leaving five stars, and the rating holds at 4.34.
How far it got
| Date | Total installs | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10-29 | 146,131 | 1,333 |
| 11-01 | 155,867 | 1,415 |
| 11-03 | 167,300 | 1,482 |
| 11-06 | 171,688 | 1,543 |
(Public Google Play figures.)
It rarely appears on the Top Free chart and mostly on Top Grossing. 11-06 charts in 14 stores' utility Top Grossing: #26 in South Africa, #39 in Nigeria, #50 in the Philippines, #75 in France, #88 in Canada, #94 in the UK, #124 in the US. From 10-31 to 11-05 it held #16–18 in Nigeria's utility Top Grossing and #127–137 on the overall app Top Grossing chart. Downloads aren't large, so charting means users are actually paying. But the bar for South Africa and Nigeria's utility Top Grossing is low; tens to hundreds of dollars a day in IAP may be enough for the top 50 (inferred), so "charting in 14 countries" doesn't mean the revenue is big.
There's an odd pattern in the ratings: 10-31 one-star reviews went from 310 down to 194 by 11-06, while five-stars rose from 1,003 to 1,211 over the same period. In Nov 2 someone wrote: "When I wrote this it was 4.0 stars, now it's 4.2, something's fishy." I can't tell whether Google cleaned up reviews or someone is manipulating the rating.
Where users come from
Nearly all growth is paid acquisition, using that batch of MrBeast ads. The review tone and chart spread fit: US lower-middle-income users, plus Nigeria, South Africa, and the Philippines, markets especially sensitive to "passive income" pitches.
Where the ads run isn't visible from outside. Meta's Ad Library doesn't show its page or any hashrate ads; Google and TikTok (EU) ad transparency pages are empty too. My guess is it runs through in-game ad networks (AppLovin, Unity, Mintegral types) or someone else's accounts running the ads. There's no organic discussion on TikTok or X, and no press coverage. Search turns up only APK mirror sites and a scam-risk review site.
There's also an episode showing how it manages users. Around Oct 24, the withdrawal method suddenly changed from Speed Wallet to Binance UID only. Binance is inconvenient for users in the US, UK, and Philippines, and one-star reviews jumped: "It worked before, then after I upgraded it suddenly switched to Binance and now I can't withdraw." About a week later it switched back, and in Oct 31 someone wrote: "Thanks for removing Binance! Back to five stars."
Who's making the exact same thing
The developer is QWR Core, which has only this one app. The contact email is a random-letter Gmail, and the homepage of the website returns 403; only the privacy policy page loads. A long list of the same template shows up on Play:
| Product | Launched | Installs (11-06) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| GoMining | 2023-02 | 5.13M | A real company with a brand |
| Bitcoin Mining (Crypto Miner) | 2023-09 | 4.61M | An established template account, charting in 25 stores |
| CT Pool(CryptoTab) | 2023-12 | 3.77M | Has an invite-referral system, 7 days +80k |
| PowerMine | 2025-12 | 690k | Nearly identical pitch copy, 7 days +40k, growing faster than this one |
| CloudMineX / Zoxni / Katva / VTRX / Nobi and others | 2026 | Tens of thousands up to 340k | Smaller accounts using the same pitch |
| OrbiMine | 2026-10-13 | 12k | Listing copy nearly copied line by line; reached #37 in South Africa's utility Top Grossing within three weeks, and reviews likewise claim "MrBeast is advertising for it" |
(Google Play installs, 11-06.)
In this category it's mid-to-small, one or two orders of magnitude smaller than the leaders. Its one difference from the rest is the low withdrawal threshold over Lightning, so there are more reviews saying "I actually got paid." It's growing fast mainly because it's newly listed and paid acquisition is still ramping up.
If it were you
E: stay away. This is not a product opportunity. Its growth comes from face-swapped celebrity ads and "download for cash" promises that will never pay out. Skip that and the paid acquisition doesn't pencil out; do it and it's fraud. Reviews already mention reporting it to Google and organizing class action, and the developer and ad accounts could be banned at any time. Even ignoring the risk, a dozen-plus accounts are already rotating through this template pipeline, and a new one copying the copy line by line appeared three weeks ago.
Who it fits: nobody should copy it. People studying rewarded-ad monetization or paid acquisition in lower-income markets can use it as a case study.
Who it doesn't fit: indie developers who want a clean product, and anyone with other apps on Google Play who doesn't want their developer account tied to this.
What's worth learning: two things. First, the dual monetization of "watch rewarded videos for progress + IAP to speed up," which can go into an idle game that openly says it's a game (Crypto Miner Tycoon has over 1,000 million installs and makes no withdrawal promises). Second, the category Top Grossing charts in South Africa, Nigeria, and the Philippines have a low bar, so testing willingness to pay there is cheap; you can see a chart position for very little spend.
How to acquire users: the legitimate version means making your own creative: the fun of an idle game, real small rewards, and in-game ad networks. No celebrities, no cash promises.
When to move: there's no window. These accounts come in batches, and each one's lifespan depends on when it gets reported and removed.
What would show I got it wrong: if in three months it's still on Play, has passed a million installs, has swapped its ads for normal creative that doesn't impersonate celebrities, and its rating isn't propped up by vanishing one-star reviews, then "watch ads to mine sats + small real withdrawals" alone can keep people around, and it's worth rebuilding transparently.
Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report
- Competitors
Name Where Launched Scale How it differs from this one GoMining: BTC Mining Android 2023-02 5.13M installs, +28k in 7 days A real company with a brand, making NFT miners; this app is an anonymous template account CT Pool: Crypto Mining App(CryptoTab) Android 2023-12 3.77M installs, +80k in 7 days Part of the CryptoTab ecosystem, with an invite-referral system, an order of magnitude larger Bitcoin Mining (Crypto Miner) Android 2023-09 4.61M installs, charting in 25 stores Same-category established template account, FINANCE category BitTycoon: BTC Cloud Mining Android 2024-11 1.48M installs Same-category template, FINANCE category, 18 stores PowerMine Android 2025-12 690k installs, 7 days +40k Nearly identical pitch copy, TOOLS category, same Top Grossing playbook, and growing faster CloudMineX / Zoxni / Katva / VTRX / Nobi Android 2026-02 to 2026-05 30k–340k installs each A matrix of template sub-accounts with no real difference OrbiMine: Cloud Miner Android 2026-10-13 12k installs, 7 days +9.7k Copycat with smaller scale NiceHash / Bitdeer / BitFuFu / ECOS Web Years Big Sells real computing power contracts with a high barrier and transparent returns; no watch-ads-for-hashrate Crypto Miner Tycoon / RollerCoin Android 2022 / earlier 10.6M / 220k installs Openly an idle game, makes no withdrawal promises - Where users come from
- Confirmed AI deepfake of MrBeast in video ads (presumed run through in-game ad networks or Facebook/YouTube): among 300 Play reviews, 10 name it directly: 'they use an ai deep fake of mr beast', lip-sync mismatch, 'the ad says I woke up $6000 richer', 'never got the $200/$500/$1000 for downloading'; the AppBrain page summary says the same
- Inferred Meta / Google / TikTok (EU) ad transparency libraries: metaads has no linked page and full-text search finds nothing; googleads and tiktokads both show no_ads
- Confirmed Dual monetization of rewarded ads plus IAP, used to recover paid acquisition costs: ad_supported=True, IAP $0.99–$199.99; reviews mention 'watch ads get 1TH/s', '$10 lifetime pack 680GH/s', 'spent $50 on the bot'
- Inferred Positive-review operations / rating management: the developer replies to every review with template copy; many short five-star reviews; 1 star count went from 10-31 to 310,11-06 to 194 (app_snap), cause unknown
- Inferred Long-time user word of mouth / invites: a recommendation thread on Reddit r/Bitcoin_in_the_cloud (page wouldn't load); reviews say 'I'll share it with all my social accounts'
Why Cloud Hashrate Hub (BTC Miner) (com.cloud.hashrate.hub.app) runs
Channel: Google Play / TOOLS; developer QWR Core (the library has only this one app; the contact email is a random-character Gmail [email protected]; the website hashratehub.cloud returns 403 on the homepage, only the privacy policy page loads). Listed on 2026-08-19. Research date 2026-11-06.
Bottom line
This is one account in a "cloud mining" template app pipeline. It runs not because of the product but because of three things: first, bulk paid acquisition using AI deepfake video ads of MrBeast ("$200/$500/$1000 for downloading", "woke up $6000 richer", "paid straight to PayPal"); second, dual monetization: watch rewarded ads for "free hashrate" + sell $0.99–$199.99 "miners/hashrate packs"; third, small real withdrawals do work (a few thousand sats arriving via Lightning to Speed Wallet), enough to keep some people giving five stars and continuing to spend. Its chart placement reflects IAP from people buying miners, not a good product anyone could copy. At least a dozen similar apps are on Play with near-identical copy, and new ones keep appearing.
1. Data (googleplay library, 2026-10-29 to 11-06)
- Cumulative global installs: 146,131(10-29)→171,688(11-06), up 25,557 in 8 days, averaging about 3.2k a day; 79 days since listing, averaging about 2.2k a day.
- Ratings: 1,333 → 1,543 (8 days, +210), only about 0.9% of installs. Rating 4.34, and the distribution is extremely polarized: 5-star 1,211, 1-star 194, 2–4 stars combined 130 (app_snap 11-06). 1-star count was 10-31 at 310, and by 11-06 the 194,5-star count had dropped while 1,003 rose to 1,211 over the same period. A big batch of 1-star reviews disappeared; the cause could be Google cleaning reviews or fake positive reviews, unverified. One reviewer said, "When I wrote my review it was 4.0, now it's 4.2, something's fishy."
- Monetization:
ad_supported=True,iap_range$0.99–$199.99. - Charts: only on the Top Grossing chart (TOOLS category). 11-06 charted in 14 stores: #26 in South Africa, #39 in Nigeria, #50 in the Philippines, #75 in France, #88 in Canada, #94 in the UK, #124 in the US. In Nigeria, from 10-31 to 11-05 it sat steadily at #16–18 in TOOLS Top Grossing, and also ranked #127–137 on the overall Top Grossing chart. It almost never appears on Top Free: only once, 10-30, did it hit #182 on the US TOOLS Top Free chart. So downloads are small, but each user spends quite a bit.
- Version: still 1.0.0, latest update 2026-10-23.
2. What it is and how it makes money (from the store page and a sample of 300 reviews)
The store description is very "compliant": it calls itself a remote compute management tool, says it doesn't mine on your phone, promises no returns, and offers no trading. This boilerplate is almost identical across similar apps (see section 4). What users actually see is different (reviews scraped with google-play-scraper, US store, English, 150 each for the "Newest" and "Most relevant" sorts):
- Rewarded video for hashrate: "Watch one ad, get 1TH/s for 5 minutes", "each ad is about 6GH/s". One person watched 50–60 ads, accumulated 0.0000002 BTC, about 17 cents.
- In-app purchased miners/hashrate packs: "$10 lifetime pack 680GH/s", "spent $50 on a mining robot"; one person said "I paid $199 for the top-tier machine and in 6 months only earned $1". Other users say they were asked to pay $449.99, $478, $498 before they could withdraw or transfer (unverified).
- Withdrawals: initially only via the Lightning Network, and only to
@speed.appaddresses (Speed Wallet). Around 10-24 it switched to accepting only a Binance UID, and users in the US, the Philippines and elsewhere mass-gave 1 stars; around 10-31 it switched back ("thanks for removing binance!! back to 5 stars"). One person posted withdrawal records: from 9-18 to October they withdrew 8 times in total, 0.000029 BTC, while they had spent $34 on devices. - Bottom line: money comes from two sides, ad revenue share from rewarded video and in-app purchases. Small withdrawals do arrive, which sustains the "it's real" reputation and keeps some people willing to keep paying.
3. Growth tactics
| Channel | Evidence | Confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| AI deepfake of MrBeast in video ads (likely running through ad networks in other games/apps, plus Facebook/YouTube) | 300 reviews, 10 of which name MrBeast directly: "they use an ai deep fake of mr beast to entice you", "Mr Beast's mouth doesn't match what he's saying", "the ad says I wake up $6000 richer", "didn't get the $200/$500/$1000 download bonus", "the ad says it goes straight to PayPal". The summary on the AppBrain page says the same. | Yes (user testimony); which ad network it runs on is unverified |
| Meta / Google / TikTok (Europe) ad libraries | No linked page for it in metaads, and no ads containing "hashrate" found; googleads and tiktokads both show status no_ads. This suggests it most likely isn't advertising under its own name on those platforms' transparent libraries, and more likely runs through in-game ad networks like AppLovin, Unity or Mintegral, or through proxy accounts. | No (nothing found) |
| Old-user referrals (invites/word of mouth) | A review says "I'll post it on all my social accounts"; on Reddit r/Bitcoin_in_the_cloud there's a post, "check out Cloud Hashrate Hub" (the page won't open, so the content can't be verified). | Weak |
| Positive-review operations | The developer replies to every review with templated responses; there are many very short five-star reviews ("Perfect Work Nice Job", "fast & easy mining love it"); 1-star count fell from 310 to 194 within a week. | Suspected, unverified |
| Organic content / SEO / press | No related TikTok videos found; 60 posts on X in the last 0 days (x-radar); no press coverage; search results only return APK mirror sites and scamadviser. | No |
4. Competitors (googleplay library, sorted by global installs; data as of 2026-11-06)
Same template: "cloud compute management tool" compliance boilerplate, TOOLS or FINANCE category, random developer names and Gmail addresses, .top or .cloud domains, and pushing up Top Grossing rankings.
| Product | Developer | Launched | Installs | 7 new in the last day | How it differs from this app |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoMining: BTC Mining | GOMINING (CYPRUS) | 2023-02 | 5.13M | 28k | A real company, NFT miners, FINANCE category, with a brand |
| Bitcoin Mining (Crypto Miner) | cloudminecrypto.com | 2023-09 | 4.61M | 12k | An older template account, charted in 25 stores (FINANCE Top Grossing #8 in France) |
| CT Pool: Crypto Mining App | CT Technologies(CryptoTab) | 2023-12 | 3.77M | 80k | Part of the CryptoTab ecosystem, with an invite-referral system, an order of magnitude larger |
| BitTycoon: BTC Cloud Mining / Dual | Little-Ants | 2024-11 / 2025-04 | 1.48M / 870k | 6k | Same template, 18 stores |
| BTC Cloud Mining(Crypto Miner) | MiningCore Cloud | 2025-08 | 740k | 18k | Peers |
| PowerMine | "Elizabeth Wheaton" | 2025-12 | 690k | 40k | Almost identical description boilerplate ("does not involve any local hardware mining"), TOOLS Top Grossing #23 in Italy, rising even faster than this app |
| CloudMineX | TellSkynnerjv | 2026-04 | 340k | 7k | Same kind, TOOLS Top Grossing #56 in South Africa |
| BtcCoin-Cloud Miner | BTC COIN | 2025-02 | 340k | 1k | Peers |
| VTRX Miner: Cloud Tool | "App developer 02" | 2026-05 | 270k | 7k | Peers |
| Zoxni Mining / Katva cloud mining | Amartha Studio / QUAIL RIDGE REALTY LLC | 2026-04 / 2026-05 | 150k / 78k | 5k / 0.7k | The two listings use the same template ("focuses on ... system stability ... Service Scope") |
| Nobi Miner / BitVexor / BitcoinNova / USDT Mining, etc. | Various random developers | 2026 | 3–70k | — | Similar small accounts |
| OrbiMine: Cloud Miner | RedCrest | 2026-10-13 | 12k | 9.7k | The newest copycat: its description nearly mirrors this app sentence for sentence ("mobile management tool for remote hashpower services ... without requiring users to install or maintain mining hardware"); three weeks after launch it reached #37 on South Africa's TOOLS Top Grossing; the reviews likewise say "MrBeast advertises it". |
| Web / real cloud mining | NiceHash, Bitdeer, BitFuFu, ECOS, Infinity Hash | Years | Big | — | Sell real hashrate contracts; high barriers to entry, transparent returns, no "watch ads for hashrate" gimmick |
| Mining idle games | Crypto Miner Tycoon (10.6M), RollerCoin, etc. | — | — | — | Openly labeled as games; don't promise withdrawals |
Scale check: this app is mid-to-small for its category, at 170k installs, 1–2 orders of magnitude below the leaders. It only surfaced because it has grown fast over the last 7 days and charted Top Grossing in several small countries.
5. Why it took off
- The paid-acquisition creative hits lower-income markets: MrBeast deepfake ads paired with "get $200, wake up $6000 richer, paid to PayPal" target low-income people in the US, as well as markets sensitive to "passive income" like Nigeria, South Africa and the Philippines. The chart distribution (best ranks in South Africa, Nigeria, the Philippines) and the reviews' tone both line up.
- Small-country TOOLS Top Grossing is an easy bar: a few tens to hundreds of dollars a day in in-app purchases is enough to reach the top 50 in South Africa or Nigeria, so "charted in 14 countries" doesn't mean big revenue.
- Dual monetization, ads help pay back: non-paying users watch rewarded video and the developer earns the ad share; paying users buy $10–$199 miners. Acquisition costs are covered from both sides.
- Small withdrawals really work, and that carries the reputation: a few thousand sats, a few cents, do arrive via Speed Wallet. Some people really received them and gave five stars, keeping the rating at 4.3 and store conversion from collapsing.
- The compliance boilerplate keeps it alive on Play: "no phone mining, no return promises, no trading" is shared across the whole template matrix, and it's what gets listings through review.
6. Differentiation
Almost no differentiation. It uses the same description boilerplate, the same gameplay (watch ads for hashrate, sell miners, withdraw via Lightning), and the same creative (MrBeast) as a dozen-plus accounts including PowerMine, Zoxni, Katva and OrbiMine. Only two things stand out: withdrawals go through the Lightning Network Speed Wallet with a threshold as low as 0.00002 BTC, which gives more "it really pays out" testimonials than its peers; and the app is newer, so paid acquisition is still in its ramp-up. Neither is why it's doing well; the creative and paid acquisition are. It's simply the account in a matrix whose turn came to push.
7. Visibility and copycats
- Revenue isn't public; no media or big X accounts have written about it, and there's no organic TikTok or X discussion. All you can see from outside is the Play reviews and APK mirror sites, which is why "few people know about it." But the category itself is a mature gray pipeline and has long been crowded.
- Copycats: OrbiMine (2026-10-13 listed, description almost copied sentence for sentence), plus a long line of accounts on the same template (PowerMine, Zoxni, Katva, Nobi, VTRX, CloudMineX...).
8. What to borrow
- At the tactics level: rewarded video plus in-app purchases for dual monetization; the low bar of small-country grossing charts makes it easy to look like "charted in many countries"; one compliance description reused over and over, with multiple developer accounts rotated in.
- Not recommended to copy: deepfaked celebrity ads, combined with false "get cash" promises, withdrawal barriers and switching withdrawal channels, are clear fraud or deception. Reviewers are already calling for class action. Google Play and ad platforms can ban the account or take the app down at any time, so account risk is high. The only thing worth borrowing is the monetization structure itself: rewarded video ads plus in-app purchases.
9. Still unclear
- Which channel the MrBeast ads run on: not found in any of the three transparent libraries; likely in-game ad networks, unverified.
- Actual revenue: grossing chart rank only shows that in-app purchase revenue exists; the amount is unknown. Whether "you must pay $449–$498 to withdraw" is true is also unverified.
- Why the 1-star count dropped by about 120 reviews in a week: could be Google cleaning reviews, or the developer managing the rating; unclear.
- Who is behind QWR Core, and whether it and accounts like PowerMine are the same team: the description style is similar, but there's no direct evidence.
Sources
- googleplay library (agent-im machine): app, app_snap, chart_rank, app_profile, 2026-10-29 to 11-06
- Google Play store page: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cloud.hashrate.hub… (read via r.jina.ai, 2026-11-06)
- Play reviews 300 (google-play-scraper, US store, English, 150 each for "Newest" and "Most relevant", scraped 2026-11-06)
- AppBrain page summary (Jina search results): www.appbrain.com/app/cloud-hashrate-hub-btc-miner/com.cloud.…
- metaads / googleads / tiktokads libraries: no ads found for it
- x-radar (0 posts in the last 60 days), TikHub TikTok search (no related videos)
- Reddit post (can't open): www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin_in_the_cloud/comments/1w3k0lv/check…