Borneo authorities seize unlawful crypto miners operating off stolen energy

Authorities within the city of Miri on the island of Borneo shut down an unlawful cryptocurrency mining operation and seized tools following a tip-off from the general public.

According to native information outlet The Borneo Publish, Sarawak Vitality found the operation, which included 34 cryptocurrency mining servers working utilizing stolen electrical energy by means of cable tapping.

Authorities seized all of the tools used within the operation, together with servers and tapping cables, whereas native police are actually investigating the newest mining operation to be taken down on the island.

Sarawak Vitality estimated that the operation was using round 6,000 ringgit a month ($1300) value of stolen electrical energy. An announcement from the utility famous that though Sarawak provides a few of the lowest power costs in Malaysia, power theft stays a difficulty.

One other public tip-off earlier in 2023 noticed over 137 cryptocurrency mining servers seized by authorities within the state of Senadin, during which Miri is positioned.

Associated: Bitcoin block 800,000 mined — What’s next?

As Cointelegraph not too long ago explored, Bitcoin (BTC) miners proceed to climate a protracted bear market that has put many operations beneath pressure. This in flip has led to plenty of mining corporations and operators to sell BTC in record numbers over the previous couple of months.

The Bitcoin mining ecosystem has additionally recorded plenty of vital metrics, with the network hash rate hitting all-time highs in 2023 which has coincided with corresponding highs for community issue.

Whereas this usually signifies that the Bitcoin community is at its most resilient with a file variety of miners competing for block rewards whereas securing the community, it additionally locations pressure on smaller operators that do not need the economies of scale of bigger operations.

Moreover, operators which have decrease electrical energy costs additionally stand to be extra worthwhile, which is one other driving issue behind the propensity for unlawful mining operators to steal electrical energy from the grid. This removes the electrical energy operating prices of mining, which suggests unlawful operators can financial institution earnings to repay {hardware}.

Collect this article as an NFT to protect this second in historical past and present your assist for impartial journalism within the crypto area.

Journal: Bitcoin is on a collision course with ‘Net Zero’ promises