Chinese officials seize illicit crypto mining operations and capture 190 miners
The Development and Reform Commission of Guangdong province seized 190 crypto mining devices worth a total of 5 million yuan.
As per reports, the Guangdong province’s Development and Reform Commission discovered an illegal crypto mining operation concealed within an electric vehicle charging station.
The hidden crypto mining farm was found in the city of Guangzhou, where law enforcement authorities have been conducting frequent inspections to regulate and eliminate any sort of mining activities in the area, according to a local publication.
Over 190 crypto mining devices worth 5 million yuan ($7,91,450) were confiscated on the spot as part of the covert mining operation. The authorities stated that, even though mining activities require a burst of power, they were kept secret from officials due to the high energy usage of the charging station they were using.
The mining activities were supposedly conducted behind closed doors, with a keeper at the door and gates and barriers to keep them covered up. The mining operation had been running for over 1,000 hours and had used over 90,000 kilowatt-hours of power.
The authorities uncovered the crypto mining activities after evaluating the charging station’s energy usage, which showed inconsistencies in the power consumption. Likewise, in February, Jieyang City confiscated 916 mining machines.
Last year, the Beijing government placed an absolute ban on crypto mining activities across the country, blaming their carbon release goals and the crypto mining companies’ heavy electricity use. As a result of the decision, most mining farms and industrial crypto mining activities have closed or relocated to other countries.
Since then, officials in many Chinese provinces have conducted state and city-level inspections to eradicate even the small home-based mining businesses. Before the crackdown, China supplied more than 60% of the Bitcoin (BTC) network’s hash power. Now, China has almost no participation in global Bitcoin mining activities.
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