Russia and Ukraine shut down several cryptocurrency farms – Mining Bitcoin News

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Russian and Ukrainian authorities have shut down a number of illegal crypto mining facilities that are believed to be powered by stolen electricity. Underground farms have been discovered around the capitals, Kiev and Moscow, as well as in the Russian republic of Dagestan.

Russia dismantles illegal mining farms in Moscow region and Dagestan

Russian law enforcement and customs officials recently discovered the theft of a large amount of electricity on the grid operated by Rosseti in Moscow oblast, the region adjacent to the Russian capital. Tass broke news of the operation this week, citing Ekaterina Korotkova of the Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office. The official explained:

An audit found an unauthorized connection to the power grid, theft of electricity and illegal seizure of land for the operation of equipment designed to perform cryptographic calculations related to the mining of digital currencies.

The cost of electricity illegally consumed and used to power mining equipment exceeds 500,000 rubles per day (nearly $ 7,000), Korotkova detailed. Authorities have initiated criminal proceedings and intend to prosecute the owners of the coin-minting facility.

Two cryptocurrency farms were also dismantled in Dagestan, a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. At the end of November, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported that a large mining operation had been discovered in a mountainous region. Preliminary data from the investigation suggests that its unknown operators caused damage estimated at 1 million rubles (over $ 13,000).

Local police also discovered a mining company in Botlikh district where miners were connected to the grid without permission. According to a Forklog report citing the Dagestan Interior Ministry, the crypto farm has been established since November and run by a 35-year-old resident of Dakhadayevsky district who stole power worth 257,000 rubles ( approximately $ 3,500).

The Digital Financial Assets Law, which came into effect in January, regulates certain crypto-related activities in the Russian Federation, but cryptocurrency mining, among others, is not one of them. There have been increasing calls among officials in Moscow this year to recognize the business as an entrepreneurial activity and tax it accordingly.

An underground crypto farm found in the Kiev region, Ukraine

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said on Friday it had discovered an illegal mining facility in the Kiev region. According to Ukraine’s main law enforcement agency, three local residents have set up a number of ASICs in a hangar they rented in the Buchansky district in the region bordering the capital. They allegedly used electrical energy worth 3.5 million hryvnia (over $ 128,000).

Source: SBU

The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies has made Ukraine an adoption leader in recent years and the government has taken steps to legalize “virtual assets”. While bitcoin mining is not prohibited, it is not yet regulated. This year, the SBU took on miners taking advantage of the country’s electricity supply network, shutting down a number of crypto farms in various regions, including a large data center in central Ukraine last month. .

Tags in this story ASIC, Bitcoin, coin minting, criminal case, Crypto, crypto farms, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Dagestan, Digital currencies, Digital currency, Electricity, grid, illegal, Investigation, Kiev, Miners, mining , mining farms, Moscow, operation, power, prosecutor’s office, Russia, SBU, theft, Ukraine, Underground

Do you expect Russia and Ukraine to regulate cryptocurrency mining in the near future? Tell us in the comments section below.

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