Russian law enforcement officials are investigating a crypto mining operation at Butyrka, Russia’s oldest prison. The deputy warden was accused of taking electricity from Butyrka, Russia’s oldest prison. He did this with unidentified accomplices.
Moscow Prison Deputy Warden Suspected Of Mining Cryptocurrency
Investigations are underway into the possibility of a high-ranking member of Butyrskaya’s management, located in central Moscow’s Tverskoy District, for the establishment of a crypto mining facility. It is also called Butyrka and was constructed in distant 1771.
Found in an area of the Federal Penitentiary Service’s psychiatric clinic, the coin-mining equipment was discovered. According to Kommersant, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation currently examines one of the deputy wardens in order to determine whether there has been any abuse of power.
Investigators have established so far that the official and his accomplices, who remain unknown, had installed the mining equipment on November 20,21. The mining rigs had been extracting cryptocurrency up to February 2018.
The government paid more than 62,000 rubles for the electricity, which cost the machines close to $1000. For this, the deputy warden is accused of “actions that clearly go beyond his powers, thereby significantly violating the legally protected interests of the society or the state.”
Many Russians have discovered that crypto mining using subsidized, and often stolen electricity is a great way to earn additional income. Some regions, such as Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Oblast and Irkutsk Oblast have seen an increase in unauthorized mining. They have maintained historically low electricity rates for their population and institutions.
Illegal miners were blamed in frequent blackouts and grid failures. This is especially true for residential areas that have no power. To deal with the phenomenon, Russia’s anti-monopoly agency recently proposed the introduction of higher electricity rates for home crypto miners.
Over 1,500 illegally operated cryptocurrency mining rigs were recently seized by law enforcement agencies in Dagestan. One of them was minting cryptocurrency at a pumping station of the Russian republic’s water supply utility.
You wonder what will happen to the Russian official charged with illegal crypto mining. Comment below.
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