Smuggled hardware from China, connected directly to the power grid
Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin elaborates on illegal cryptocurrency mining and 3,500 mining devices illegally consuming electricity recently seized from 41 rented buildings in Bangkok and Nonthaburi at the Department of Special Investigations on Wednesday. (Photo: DSI)
Special investigators have seized around 3,500 illegal cryptocurrency mining units that operate out of rented buildings in Bangkok and Nonthaburi and steal large amounts of electricity.
The crypto miners were directly connected to external power lines and had illegally drained around 500 million baht of electricity from the state grid over the past two years, Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Department of Special Investigations (DSI), Mr. Somsak announced the seizure of some 3,500 crypto mining units from 41 commercial buildings, following an investigation that began in February last year.
The minister said the hardware was smuggled into the country from China and then installed in the buildings. They had been directly connected to the state's electricity transmission network. There were no meters and they did not pay energy charges.
In each building there were about 100 of the devices, which worked around the clock. The building supervisors paid only 300-2000 baht in energy charges per month for each building.
"The buildings were actually consuming 300,000 to 500,000 baht worth of energy per month, and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority lost around 500 million baht in revenue through this illegal electricity consumption," Somsak said.
About 20 people were detained for maintaining the mining units and officials were questioning them to learn more about the network and who ran it.
The crypto miners had earned around 35 baht per device per day. In the past two years, they have generated about 100 million baht, the justice minister said.
โThis is just the tip of the iceberg. All 41 buildings belonged to a single network operated by these illicit businesses that exist all over the country. There are more places where energy is illegally obtained to power cryptocurrency mining,โ Somsak said.
Investigators would find out if any electrical authority employees colluded with them, he said.
DSI CEO Trairit Temahiwong said gangs involved in drugs and online gambling were using cryptocurrency mining to launder money. He said that four of the buildings searched had been damaged by fires because the crypto mining units had overheated.
