Ukraine Security Service Shuts Down Illegal Crypto Farm With 3800 PS4 Consoles Sucking 200k electricity monthly
The security service of the Ukrainiane (SBI) shut down a mining farm holding 3800 PS4 Consoles. The cryptominers exploited a deserted warehouse there and used energy to mine bitcoins from the electricity system in the city.
The perpetrators illegally used the electricity network. According to the authorities, the monthly costs would amount to a maximum of 7 million Ukrainian hryvnia, converted to about 215,000 euros.
Obtaining graphics cards and ASIC miners has been quite difficult, these Ukrainian miners took a different approach to cryptocurrency mining. The Security Service of Ukraine discovered the illegal mining operation and reported that more than 50 processors, 500 graphics cards, and 3,800 PlayStation 4 consoles were seized in a raid. Yes, the miners had more than 3,800 PS4 consoles set up to mine cryptocurrencies. It's certainly an uncommon way to mine crypto, but it seemed to work for these miners as they had this large number of consoles set up for mining. Even though these miners were using PS4 consoles to mine, it is certainly not the most efficient way to mine cryptocurrency, but the 8GB GDDR5 at 5.5Gbps looks like it was paying off for them. With a 256-bit bus, the PS4's memory bandwidth is 176 Gbps, with this you can do the mining work, but it's certainly not that good compared to graphics cards.
The peak of additional energy use attracted the energy company's concerns because they were tapping in from the power grid in town. According to specialists, loss of 5 to 7 million UAH (USD 200,000 to $ 250,000) might be caused monthly from such actions.
The crypto-monetary mining of various devices, including PS4, can be done, but it is surely not the most efficient. You may make money from mining cryptocurrency if you have 3800 PS4 and not pay the energy bill...
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No? They just saw a huge power leak and they just traced down the location. You can't really ask the electricians to find from where it's leaking, maybe the police but who knows, maybe they couldn't find anything.
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Only that the SBI is not the normal police.
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Wasn't there earlier a similar case in the UK? The police thought they would find criminals growing cannabis indoors, but instead found a mining cave. Considering that, it would be no wonder if the cops in Ukraine already suspected they would find miners.
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Absolute cancer this has turned into. Glad authorities are starting to crack down on it, be it on purpose or to trace electricity theft.
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The interesting part here is actually that a government agency cracked down on it. I guess they were looking for something else than a crypto farm, but still...