Viral video shows Malaysian police destroying 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs with a steamroller
Call it a crypto crackdown — literally. Malaysian authorities seized 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs, laid them out in a parking lot at police headquarters, and used a steamroller to crush them, as part of a joint operation between law enforcement in the city of Miri and electric utility Sarawak Energy. Assistant Commissioner of Police Hakemal Hawari told CNBC the crackdown came after miners allegedly stole $2 million worth of electricity siphoned from Sarawak Energy power lines. A video of the event posted last week by local Sarawak news outlet Dayak Daily has since gone viral on social media. Acting on a tip, authorities on the island of Borneo confiscated the rigs in six separate raids between February and April. In total, police destroyed about $1.26 million of mining equipment. Police opted to crush the mining gear rather than sell it, in accordance with a court order. Other countries, like China, have taken a different route, reportedly auctioning off seized rigs.
Hawari said that electricity theft by bitcoin miners led to three houses burning down in the city. The Miri police chief told CNBC that there are no other active mining operations underway currently. Crypto mining is the energy-intensive process which creates new bitcoin. When people are “mining,” that actually means they’re trying to solve a complex math problem using a highly specialized computer. Solving that problem is both what unlocks new tokens and verifies new transactions. However, running those machines at full capacity draws a great deal of power, which can jeopardize local power grids. While mining for cryptocurrencies is not illegal in Malaysia, there are stringent laws around power use. Section 37 of Malaysia’s Electricity Supply Act threatens those who tamper with power lines with fines of up to 100,000 Malaysian ringgit ($23,700) and five years in prison.
Malaysian authorities crush 1,069 crypto mining rigs with a steamroller
How do authorities dispose of confiscated cryptocurrency mining rigs? In a city in Sarawak, Malaysia, authorities got rid of 1,069 rigs at once by crushing them with a steamroller, Vice reports. According to Malaysian publication Dayak Daily, the PCs were confiscated over six raids conducted between February and April this year. Sarawak Energy Berhad, the electric utility company of the Malaysian province, is accusing the mining operators of stealing electricity for their activities. The operators allegedly stole RM8.4 million worth of energy, or around US$2 million, from the company.
People who want to seriously mine cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and Ethereum use PCs built for that purpose, and the process usually consumes a huge amount of electricity. That’s why it’s no surprise that energy theft is commonly reported in places where miners operate. In Ukraine, for instance, the country’s Security Service raided a mining operation that used PS4 Pros as their machines, and the operators were also accused of stealing electricity from the country’s power grid. The Malaysian city’s police chief Hakemal Hawari told Dayak Daily that energy theft for mining operations has been so rampant this year, three houses burned down as a result of illegal electric connections.
You can watch the steamroller crush the mining rigs in the video below. If you’re wondering, that’s RM5.3 million (US$1.26 million) worth of hardware being haphazardly smashed by a gigantic machine.
Malaysian police destroy 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs with steamroller
Malaysian cops seized and destroyed 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs by crushing them with a steamroller — after the miners allegedly siphoned off almost $2 million worth of electricity to power the energy-intensive machines.
The machines, which were estimated to be worth about $1.25 million, were seized in a joint operation carried out by police in the city of Miri and electric utility company Sarawak Energy between February and April, according to a report from the Malaysian National News Agency.
A video of the steamrolling posted last week by local news outlet Dayak Daily has made the rounds on social media.
Six people were arrested for electricity theft in the operation, and have been fined almost $2,000 as well as “jailed for up to eight months,” according to a statement from Miri police chief ACP Hakemal Hawari that was quoted by local outlets.
The theft of electricity to power bitcoin mining operations has been a persistent issue across the world, especially since the price of bitcoin skyrocketed earlier this year to more than $60,000 per coin.
Malaysian police use a steamroller to destroy bitcoin mining rigs. YouTube
So-called Bitcoin mining involves using computers to solve complex math problems in an effort to be rewarded with freshly minted units of the popular cryptocurrency, which was worth around $31,300 per coin as of 6 a.m. Monday.
In May, British cops stumbled upon a bank of around 100 bitcoin mining rigs at a site police had been told was a marijuana farm. The site had stolen thousands of dollars worth of electricity to power its operations, police said at the time.
In Malaysia, electricity theft to power bitcoin mining operations has become an increasingly urgent issue for authorities.
“The electricity theft for mining bitcoin activities has caused frequent power outages and in 2021, three houses were razed due to illegal electricity supply connections,” the Miri police chief told local outlets.
Critics of cryptocurrencies, and Bitcoin especially, have taken aim at the mining process, saying that the demand for energy is exacerbating climate change.
Some governments, including that of China, have cracked down on mining operations in the country, citing the environmental impact as well as the potential for cryptocurrencies to disrupt the established financial system.
Still, demand for computers capable of carrying out the process is surging as speculators look to cash in on cryptocurrency.
The machines now sell for thousands of dollars and take months to ship out, according to China-based Bitmain.