Russian Miners Hide Mining Farm in Chicken Coop, Scale Possibly More Than 8000 Farms

BlockBeats News, April 14th, according to DL News, Irkutskenergosbyt, an energy supplier in the Irkutsk region of Russia, has announced that about 8,000 suspected illegal cryptocurrency mining sites have been discovered, stating that the "actual number of violators is much higher than this."

Local officials stated that miners have disguised their mining farms as chicken farms, greenhouses, paper mills, gas stations, and even forests to conceal high electricity consumption. Some residents attributed the high power usage to electric vehicle charging or heating poultry sheds, while others claimed to be "drying construction timber" (despite the houses being vacant), ultimately "drying" up to $12,000 in electricity bills.

The region is a hotbed for Bitcoin mining in Russia, where cheap electricity attracts a large number of miners. However, illegal mining has overwhelmed the local power grid, leading to frequent blackouts. The investigation is ongoing.