Malaysian Police Crush 1,069 Bitcoin Mining Rigs Using a Steamroller
The former owners stole over $2 million of electricity.
One of the biggest costs associated with mining Bitcoin is electricity, so some miners have decided to steal it instead of paying for it. In Malaysia, that’s resulted in a lot of mining rigs being seized and destroyed in a very public way.
As CNBC reports, local police received a tip that Bitcoin miners were stealing electricity from Sarawak Energy power lines on the island of Borneo. What followed was six raids between February and April where $1.26 million of equipment was seized.
Before being caught, the miners apparently managed to burn down three houses. In total, eight people have been arrested and six of those charged with stealing energy supplies. They will serve eight months in jail and face a fine of up to $1,900 each. As for the seized equipment, rather than selling it, the police decided on destruction instead.
As the video above shows, 1,069 Bitcoin mining rigs were laid out on a parking lot at police headquarters before a steamroller was used to crush them. Although a very effective way to ensure these machines never mine Bitcoin again, hopefully, the materials get separated and recycled—a task that surely would have been made easier by not crushing them first.
Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com.
