Chinese Authorities Seize About 7,000 Cryptocurrency Mining Machines

Chinese media house, CCTV, announced on the 22nd of December that the Chinese authorities have confiscated about 7,000 cryptocurrency mining machines, which were reported to be illicitly expending power in the country.

The arrogation of the machines was a product of a routine inspection of properties in the area. In total, 70,000 homes, 3,060 vendors, 1,470 communities as well as factories, mines, and villages in Tangshan city were inspected. The activity was executed by the Tangshan police who joined forces with the electricity agency of the state as well as other agencies in a bid to clamp down on dubious electric use.

The investigation began in April 2018 and has led to the seizure of 6,890 ASIC miners and 50 industrial-grade transformers. The police claimed that the miners were siphoning electricity from neighboring villages. The police also stated that the mining machines were functioning round the clock, expending more than 40 times the normal rate of the average home.

Efforts to Curb Unlawful Cryptocurrency Mining Activities
China, the country with the most Bitcoin miners (accounting for 66% of the world’s hash rate), has been combating the unlawful use of electricity by cryptocurrency miners. Regulatory bodies in the country are intensifying their hold on cryptocurrency mining firms and have set out to mop up and rectify cryptocurrency mining firms in the region.

In other nations, efforts to identify and handle “cryptocurrency mining farms” are increasing. In Abkhazia, the government noted that the increasing amount of load on the power grid was due to the growing number of unscrupulous mining farms in the country.

Also, just last month, Iranian authorities have placed a bounty on unscrupulous mining activities and have promised to reward anybody that has useful information on unlawful crypto mining activities with 20% of the recovered damages.