The Security Service of Ukraine Shuts Down Crypto Mining Farm in Kharkiv
Ukraine’s
main law enforcement agency, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), has busted
an illegal facility mining cryptocurrencies in the Kharkiv region. The
operators of the crypto farm have been minting coins using large amounts of
stolen electricity, threatening the energy supply to critical infrastructure,
the agency said.
Illegal Mining Farm Discovered in the War-Torn Kharkiv Region
The Security
Service of Ukraine (SBU) has discovered and closed down an underground crypto
mining unit in the eastern region of Kharkiv, the scene of military hostilities
between the Ukrainian army and invading Russian forces.
The operation
was carried out by the SBU’s Cyber Security Department, together with the
National Police of Ukraine and under the supervision of the Kyiv Holosiiv
District Prosecutor’s Office.
According to
a press release issued on Tuesday, the cryptocurrency farm has consumed
industrial volumes of unpaid electricity worth hundreds of thousands of hryvnia
(thousands of dollars).
The Ukrainian
authorities said that the mining operation could have potentially caused
serious interruptions in the energy supply to residential areas and critical
infrastructure facilities near the front line.
Investigators
revealed that the mining hardware had been installed by several residents in a
rented warehouse near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. They connected
the mining units to the grid without approval.
During the
search operations, Security Service of Ukraine officers seized computers and
mining equipment as evidence of the illegal activity. The suspected owners of
the illegal crypto mining business will be notified in the ongoing pre-trial
investigation. The case will be reviewed in court as per the law of the land.
Ukraine has
become a regional leader in crypto adoption and the government in
Kyiv has taken steps to legalise transactions with virtual assets in
the last few years. However, crypto mining needs further regulation as it is
still in a grey zone.
The SBU has
been in pursuit of crypto miners exploiting the country’s electricity network
and has successfully shut down several crypto farms in various
regions since last year. Other illegal crypto-related activities have been
targeted too. For example, many online crypto exchanges allegedly sending money
to Russian wallets were blocked last year.
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