China police pull plug on bitcoin miners after US$3 million power tip-off
- More than 20 suspects and nearly 4,000 mining devices taken in Jiangsu’s largest case of stolen electricity
- Illicit operation cracked after power company reports abnormal usage
An illicit bitcoin mining operation which stole nearly 20 million yuan (US$3 million) worth of electricity has been shut down by police in eastern China.
Police in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, confiscated almost 4,000 mining devices and have taken “compulsory measures” against more than 20 criminal suspects after receiving a tip-off from a local power company which had reported abnormal electricity usage.
“In value, it is the largest case in the amount of electricity stolen that Jiangsu has cracked, and a rare sight in the whole country,” Zhenjiang police said in an online statement.
Bitcoin is a decentralised virtual currency which can be produced or “mined” by banks of computers solving complex algorithms. The mining process can be very expensive on a large scale because it requires cutting-edge technology and vast amounts of electricity.
The value of bitcoin surged above US$11,000 after Facebook last month unveiled its own global cryptocurrency, called Libra, which will be launched next year.