In the Baikal Lake Area of the Russian Border, a power company technician seized 95 illegal mining machines from a truck, consuming as much electricity as a small settlement.
(Background: New Russian cryptocurrency regulations require “mining to KYC,” with miners required to report income by the 20th of each month.)
(Context: Russia has no plans to build Bitcoin reserves; the Ministry of Finance prefers the yuan and gold.)
Local media outlet Tass reported this week that in the southern autonomous region of Buryatia and the Baikal Lake area, a seemingly ordinary KamAZ truck was found packed with 95 mining machines, drawing electricity directly from a 10 kV high-voltage line. When power company personnel opened the truck’s door, they were greeted by the roar of fans and a wave of heat, while two drivers made a swift getaway.
According to Buryat Energy Company, this marks the sixth similar case reported locally this year, indicating that “truck mining sites” are spreading.
Power Company: Truck Mining Sites Affect Grid Safety
It is understood that technicians from Buryat Energy discovered abnormal current in the line during routine inspections, which led them to pinpoint the truck parked by the forest. The cargo area housed a large number of mining machines and a mobile substation with a power output of nearly 500 kW, equivalent to the electricity consumption of an entire village.
The company’s PR warned that mining machines directly connected to high-voltage lines could lower voltage, cause equipment overheating, and even trigger regional blackouts, further weakening an already electricity-short Siberia in winter.
A truck can collapse a village’s lighting system…
Mining Ban in Ten Regions Year-Round; Buryatia Enforces Winter Shutdown
To ensure grid safety, the Russian Ministry of Energy will issue a year-round mining ban in ten regions, including Dagestan and Chechnya, starting in 2025; Buryatia and Irkutsk will implement a “winter mining shutdown” from November 15 to March 15 of the following year.
If mining is conducted without official registration, offenders may face fines up to 2 million rubles and confiscation of equipment. Local governments are also considering introducing criminal liability (the new registration system requires submission of mining machine serial numbers, wallet addresses, and output), but currently, it seems ineffective in combating illegal electricity theft for mining.
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