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Bloomberg: Power Theft Exceeds $1 Billion, Malaysia Bitcoin Mining Surge

彭博社

2025-12-06 11:00

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In the past five years, Malaysia has uncovered about 14,000 illegal cryptocurrency mining sites, causing the state-owned power company to lose over $1.1 billion. In November 2025, the local government established a special committee to consider a complete ban on mining.

Original Title: Bitcoin Miners Hunted After Stealing $1 Billion of Electricity From Malaysia Grid

Original Authors: Ryan Weeks, Kok Leong Chan, Netty Idayu Ismail, Bloomberg

Original Translation: Chopper, Foresight News

In Malaysia's rampant illegal cryptocurrency mining area, the pursuit operation takes to the skies. Drones hover over rows of shops and abandoned houses, searching for unusual heat sources, a typical heat signature of illicit mining operations. On the ground, police officers use sensors to investigate abnormal electricity usage. Sometimes, the tracking methods are more primitive: residents would report strange bird calls as alarms, only for the police to discover that someone was intentionally playing nature sounds to mask the hum of machines behind closed doors.

These tools collectively weave a mobile surveillance web, fully dedicated to eradicating illegal Bitcoin mining.

July 2024, an official inspects mining rigs after a Bitcoin mining raid

The pursued mining enterprises are very cautious: they frequently move their operations between vacant shops and abandoned houses, installing insulation to conceal the heat radiation from mining activities; they equip entry and exit points with CCTV cameras, heavy security measures, and broken glass barriers to prevent unauthorized access.

This is the cat-and-mouse game between Malaysian authorities and Bitcoin miners. Over the past five years, Malaysia has shut down about 14,000 illegal mining premises. According to data from the Ministry of Energy, the state-owned energy company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), has incurred losses of up to $1.1 billion due to electricity theft during the same period, and this trend is worsening. In early October of this year, as Bitcoin prices hit a record high, the authorities had registered about 3,000 mining-related electricity theft cases.

Bitcoin hit a record price of $126,251 in October 2025, followed by a sharp cryptocurrency price drop

Now, Malaysia is stepping up its enforcement efforts. On November 19, a cross-departmental special committee was formed by the government, including the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Malaysia, and the National Energy Group. This task force will coordinate a targeted crackdown on illegal mining operators.

「The risk of allowing such behavior extends beyond just electricity theft," said Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, Deputy Minister of Energy Transition and Water Resources who also serves as the committee's chairman. "These activities may even damage our power facilities, posing a serious challenge to the electricity grid system."

Bitcoin mining is fundamentally a race of computing power: rows of specialized equipment conducting trillions of calculations per second, aiming to successfully validate transactions and earn Bitcoin rewards.

Bitcoin mining is big business. The global electricity consumption of Bitcoin mining has exceeded the total electricity usage of countries like South Africa or Thailand. According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance report, currently over 75% of Bitcoin mining activity is concentrated in the United States. Malaysia's share in this industry is relatively ambiguous: as of January 2022, its global hash rate share was 2.5%, but the latest research from Cambridge University has not released updated data.

What is clear is that Malaysia's miners excel in repurposing various special locations for mining activities.

Overlooking the Strait of Malacca, the ElementX shopping center, a massive complex that was deserted during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since struggled. Today, much of the mall still resembles a construction site, with exposed concrete floors and uncovered wiring. In early 2022, this mall welcomed a special tenant: Bitcoin miners. It wasn't until early 2025 that a TikTok video exposing its mining operation went viral, leading to the eviction of the mining rigs from the premises.

In the East Malaysian state of Sarawak hundreds of miles away, similar covert mining facilities exist. Bloomberg News previously reported that a company named Bityou set up a mining farm in an old logging site. The company did not respond to requests for comments on this article.

In Malaysia, as long as operators obtain electricity legally and pay taxes as required by law, Bitcoin mining is considered a legal activity.

But Akmal disagrees. During the inaugural meeting of the special committee on November 25, members discussed "whether to recommend a complete ban on Bitcoin mining."

"Even if mining operations are compliant, the extreme volatility of the market poses a major challenge," he pointed out. "I believe that currently there is no mining company that can be considered a 'legally successful operation.'"

He further stated that the large number of illegal Bitcoin mining hideouts and the operating patterns of individuals behind the scenes indicate the presence of organized crime.

"These activities are clearly controlled by criminal groups," Akmal remarked, "and from the mobility of moving mining rigs frequently between different locations, their modus operandi has formed a fixed pattern."