Two Russian Crypto Mining Centers Shut Down, 400+ Rigs Taken Offline
Russian crypto mining efforts suffered a setback last week, with police closing two large, illegal data centers.
In total, officers said they took over 400 crypto mining rigs offline in raids in Siberia and the republic of Dagestan.
The Novosibirsk-based power provider AO RES (via Kommersant) reported that police officers raided a disused boiler house in a village in the suburbs of Iskitim, in the Novosibirsk Oblast.
Police discovered an “illegal connection” to the power grid. Officers said they found “special racks several meters high” inside the building.
These racks housed “more than 100 operational ASIC devices,” with devices that were “designed for mining cryptocurrencies.”
Officers and power experts also said they found “unpacked mining equipment in the room.” The power firm said:
“The damage the illegal miners caused to the electrical grid from their activities amounted to several million rubles [1 ruble = $0.011].”
And AO RES said officers seized so-called “grey” mining equipment from the scene. However, the very activity of crypto mining falls into what Russian authorities call “grey” activity.
US energy data agency to track crypto mining power use https://t.co/jjR03ggi76 pic.twitter.com/OflreesRE6
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 31, 2024
Mining still has no legal status in Russia, despite the fact that domestic miners say their collective capacity is now second only to that of the USA.
Industrial giants like BitRiver have urged Moscow to “hurry up” and “legalize” their industry for years.
However, until lawmakers pass a bill that recognizes mining as a form of “entrepreneurship,” the entire Russian crypto sector will remain in “grey” limbo.
Power firm officials said they were considering launching a criminal case against the
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