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 gear following a tip-off from the general public.

In response to native information outlet The Borneo Submit, Sarawak Power found the operation, which included 34 cryptocurrency mining servers working utilizing stolen electrical energy via cable tapping.

Authorities seized the entire gear 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 Power estimated that the operation was using round 6,000 Malaysian ringgits a month ($1300) price of stolen electrical energy. An announcement from the utility famous that though Sarawak affords a few of the lowest power costs in Malaysia, power theft stays a difficulty.

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

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

As Cointelegraph lately reported, Bitcoin (BTC) miners proceed to climate a protracted bear market that has put many operations underneath pressure. This, in flip, has led to a number of mining corporations and operators promoting BTC in report quantities over the previous few months.

The Bitcoin mining ecosystem has additionally recorded quite a lot of vital metrics, with the community hash charge hitting all-time highs in 2023, corresponding with highs for community problem.

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

Moreover, operators with 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, permitting illegal operators to financial institution earnings and repay {hardware} prices.

Gather this text as an NFT to protect this second in historical past and present your help for impartial journalism within the crypto area.

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