The Irkutsk region in Russia has become a hotspot for crypto miners due to its cold climate and cheap electricity.
However, crypto miners are taking advantage of these for illegal mining activities.
A recent crackdown on this region resulted in a seizure of 283 Bitcoin mining rigs.
This comes amid thousands of others that have been seized this year alone.
Russia recently legalized Bitcoin mining and is set to become a superpower soon—however, getting its miners to comply with the rules is set to be a challenge.
In an ongoing effort to attack illegal crypto mining worldwide, Russian authorities recently seized 238 Bitcoin mining rigs in the Irkutsk region, the country's unofficial hub for such activities.
Here’s how things went down in the latest case of large-scale energy theft.
The Irkutsk region in Southeastern Siberia has become Russia's centre of mining activity in the last few years.
Mining
Miners have discovered that aside from this area's geography, it presents two other major factors that make mining attractive:
Its low electricity costs and cold winters.
Cheap electricity is perfect for Bitcoin mining, considering mining rigs require massive power.
The area's natural cold also eliminates the need for miners to buy artificial (and mostly expensive) equipment to keep their rigs cool.
This rise of Irkutsk as Russia’s mining hotspot began in 2019, right after China banned crypto mining.
Interestingly, Russia recently legalized industrial crypto mining.
According to the state media outlet TASS, this legalization caused many miners to take advantage by tapping into electricity supply intended for residential use.
Before long, the region started to suffer widespread disruptions as local energy companies blamed illegal miners for the overloading.
In the most recent raid, which took place in the Priangarye settlement, law enforcement officers seized 238 mining rigs.
According to estimates, the damage these 238 mining rigs caused to the power grid amounted to about 68 million rubles (approximately $758,000).
So far, a criminal case has been launched against the accused, with charges of fraud.
In more interesting news, the crackdown at Irkutsk is not an isolated incident.
Only a few months ago, in July, local authorities seized around 500 mining rigs from another regional agricultural community. Earlier in May, another suspected illegal miner was charged in court for the same offence.
This all happened before police seized over 3,200 crypto mining rigs, only a month before all this in Siberia.
Interestingly enough, this rash of energy thefts in Russia shows a major rise in the country's status as a Bitcoin mining superpower.
According to recent insights from Coinglass CEO Ki Young Ju, the Bitcoin FOMO is starting to kick in, with Russia acting fast to keep up with the US.
So far, experts have estimated that as much as 90% of the miners in this country are focused on Bitcoin.
Russia is poised to compete with some of the crypto-mining superpowers soon. However, it might have some major issues with getting its small-scale miners to comply with the new rules.
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