In a cartoonish crackdown on electricity stealing , Malaysian authorities crushed over 1,000 crypto minelaying rigs using a road roller .
The 1,069 rigs were impound in the Malaysian city of Miri during six raid between February and April this yr after police suspect the miners were slip electrical energy to power their operation , according toDayak Daily . An energy company aver that over 8.4 million Malaysian Ringgit ( almost $ 2 million ) Charles Frederick Worth of electrical energy has been stolen in just three month . Six mass now have been charge with electrical energy theft and face up to eight month jail time , as well as a fine of 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit ( around $ 1,900 ) .
To make a public argument against thisincreasingly bothersome crime , a juggernaut was used to ruin the get hold of trucking rig at the Miri territorial dominion police home base last hebdomad . The ever - so off-the-wall footage was also upload to YouTube by theDayak Daily .
Crypto mining has become passably of a trouble in Malaysia ( as well as other parts of the world ) . Along with financial losses from electrical energy theft , crypto mining has put a strain on the country ’s mightiness power system , often ensue in blackouts .
Bitcoin , Ethereum , and most other cryptocurrencies run on a decentralized meshing that records transactions in a distributed book call a blockchain . To work and assert a transaction , the system uses a “ proof - of - work ” cognitive process that involves computers within the connection competing to solve complicated cryptanalytics puzzles . For this effort , the electronic computer that contribute to this process are pay back with cryptocurrency , a process known as minelaying .
However , mining is an electrical energy - athirst business . The cryptography puzzles involved in excavation have become more and more more complex and hard to puzzle out . Ten years ago , minelaying software could happily pass on a menage computer , but now it involve vast amounts of computing power to make any worthwhile reward .
More computing power means more electricity . On top of that , some bitcoin mines need electrical energy to chill down the furiously work computer . As of 2021 , bitcoin miningdrains more electricitythan the totality of Argentina and , in turn , generatesmore carbon emissionseach class than the Czech Republic .