China Household Caught Nicking Energy to Mine Bitcoins With Phones

During a routine inspection an electric utility company in China uncovered a clandestine mining operation, which appeared to be not worth the risk.

A Chinese household in the province of Guangdong has been found stealing unbilled electricity to mine bitcoin using 50 mobile phones and 15 improvised mining rigs, according to The South China Morning Post.

The homemade workshop has consumed almost 33,000 kWh for the illegal purpose, which is essentially a sufficient amount to mine a couple of bitcoins. However experts said using a smartphone in the venture seems to be a bad choice, given its minor computing powers, which would perhaps be enough to mint less power-consuming altcoins.

The latest #Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index is 63.3 TWh per Year/5.86 Mil US households (+0.30%) https://t.co/3rbPhSikdD
852 KWh per unique transaction (powers 1 US household for 28+ days) #MakeBitcoinSustainable pic.twitter.com/2604r98jcB

— Digiconomist (@DigiEconomist) 28 апреля 2018 г.

The improvised facility was found by workers from the Meizhou municipal branch of the China Southern Power Grid Company, as they were performing a regular check-up. What raised their suspicions was a number of strangely connected power cables, which ran over a back street to the upper floor of a block of flats.

Unlike initial coin offerings and digital coins exchanges, cryptocurrency mining is legal in China. Some of the world’s largest mining facilities are concentrated in power-rich regions and areas that boast cooler climates. According to many estimates, up to 80% of the global bitcoin mining capacity currently resides in China.

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