For Bitcoin's Sake, This Abandoned Factory Has Been Transformed Into The Largest Illegal Mining Site In Ukraine

Ukrainian police find biggest illegal Bitcoin mining (Bitgrum)

JAKARTA – The Ukrainian authorities (USB) have uncovered the largest illegal mining in Vinnytsia. Ukrainian law enforcement officials said the find was the largest underground crypto mining site they had ever known.

Previously, the SBU found a large amount of electricity theft in the city of Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Apparently the energy taken was used for the largest crypto mining in the country.

Launching Bitcoin.com News, crypto mining facilities were built in the city of Vinnytsia and the capital Kyev located in a former warehouse belonging to the company JSC Vinnytsiaoblenerho. The SBU revealed that residents managed to hide the theft of electricity by using a meter that did not show actual energy consumption.

To date, local authorities have confiscated as many as 5,000 units of mining equipment, 3,800 game consoles, over 500 graphics cards, and 50 processors. The SBU has also managed to confiscate documents related to actual electricity consumption, notebooks, phones, and USB flash drives.

The SBU cooperated with the Central Police Investigation Department and a number of other legal entities in conducting raids on the largest illegal crypto mining activity in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government announced that the illegal mining was responsible for the theft of electricity which was estimated to cost between 183,000 (Rp 2.6 billion) to US$ 256 thousand (approximately Rp 3.7 billion). The local government announced that excessive consumption of electricity could cause a spike in electricity prices and blackouts in the surrounding area.

Currently the authorities are looking for the main mastermind behind the illegal crypto mining. They are also looking into whether JSC Vinnytsiaoblenerho employees were involved in the illegal activities.

The discovery of the illegal mining followed after the discovery of an illegal mining facility in Chernihiv Oblast. From these findings, the police confiscated 150 mining rigs which are estimated to have consumed electricity consumption of 110,000 US dollars (Rp 1.6 billion).

In early June, the Ukrainian authorities also seized 350 mining rigs that use electricity in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The mining activity has consumed electricity of 70 thousand US dollars or around Rp. 1.1 billion.