The problem of illegal BTC digging in Russia is impressive.

Illegally built power plants, manipulated energy meters and underground BTC mining farms - this is the cryptocurrency market in Russia. Crypto-miners could steal almost $ 6.6 million (450 million Russian rubles) using such infrastructure, state energy company Rosseti says.

Russian BTC miners have stolen nearly $ 6.6 million in electricity.
Rosseti is tracking illegal mines in Russia.

Miners stealing power

Rosseti is looking for BTC mines that have no contracts with local energy companies, but are connected to the electricity grid and use the electricity they generate without paying for it.

It usually happened on the premises of an already existing company, such as a factory, in which the owners want to generate "additional income" in this way - they were passed on to CoinDesk.

Other popular locations for such ventures included garages, rented offices, tourist houses and a former farm. The company has even found one underground cryptocurrency mine.

In search of illegal mines

Since 2017, Rossetti has detected 35 cases of illegal energy consumption for the purpose of digging BTC in 20 regions of Russia (Russia consists of 85 regions of varying sizes and population density). Each of these cases was reported to law enforcement authorities.

We thoroughly analyze consumption patterns for anomalies, check power lines and measure station load. Sometimes it is easy to see the mining farm with visual signs, for example, when efficient air-conditioning devices and fans are installed in the building

company said.