Everywhere I turn, I'm seeing some new form of this thing called "mobile mining".

Technically, mining is done on powerful computers. Very powerful computers. They are usually called ASICs, but they have other names too.(ASIC is a type of miner by the way. But it's the most popular type)

But now, there are start ups(like Electroneum and the sketchy Pi) trying to push mobile mining, which is mining on your phone.

Mining on your phone should be impossible, given that your puny phone shouldn't be able to access the blockchain on its own. The processing power required to access the blockchain is insane, and your phone offers nothing in terms of processing power.

Processor shaming your phone (and mine) aside, why then do these companies push mobile mining so hard? And how do they access the blockchain?

Well, I'll answer the second question first. Your phone literally accesses no blockchain. Which is why in the Electroneum app for example, you can close or delete the app, open or reinstall it and still see your "mined" tokens there. This isn't possible on the real blockchain, as your computer has to be on all the time to receive the mining rewards.

So if they're not accessing a blockchain, then what is going on?

Well, I believe that they are just handing you free tokens after a set period of time, to simulate the mining experience for noobs, but without all the expense and heating and hardness.

(P.S: If you do wish to use the Electroneum app and collect some free ETN tokens (which can be converted to BTC on KuCoin), use my referral code 8D999C to receive even more tokens than usual. Thanks in advance!)

Ok, the second question. Why do companies push mobile mining so hard?

Simple. They want publicity.

Companies will do anything for publicity. Heck, even those Kick Token guys airdropped $500 worth of their token to random ethereum addresses just for publicity. (They're a scam by the way.)

They want to spread the word of their token to everyone willing to listen ,and they will "simulate the mining experience" for new users.

That's the reason behind the rise in mobile mining.

Thanks for reading!