Russian Power Grid Workers Arrested Over Alleged Role in Illegal Crypto Mining Operation
State infrastructure gets hijacked for digital gold rush.
### When the Lights (and Mining Rigs) Go Out
Authorities just pulled the plug on a clandestine operation that wasn't in a warehouse—it was inside the system itself. Workers at a major Russian power distributor now face charges for allegedly diverting electricity to fuel a secret crypto mining farm. This isn't just about stealing kilowatts; it's about compromising national energy security to chase blockchain rewards.
### The High Cost of 'Free' Hashrate
The scheme reportedly bypassed metering systems entirely, siphoning off enough power to run a small town's worth of specialized computers. That's industrial-scale consumption hidden in plain sight, turning public infrastructure into a private crypto mint. While the exact figures are under wraps, the math is simple: massive, unmetered energy draw equals a direct hit to grid stability and, ultimately, taxpayer wallets.
### A Global Pattern of Power Theft
This case is a stark reminder—crypto mining's hunger for electricity can create perverse incentives. From tapped transformers in rural America to hijacked substations in Asia, the pattern repeats where power is cheap or poorly guarded. The blockchain may be decentralized, but the energy it consumes is very much a controlled, physical resource.
### The Regulatory Circuit Breaker Trips
The arrests signal regulators are tracing the energy trail, not just the digital one. It's a new front in crypto enforcement: following the watts. For an industry begging for mainstream legitimacy, these stories are a gift to critics who paint crypto as a parasitic drain on real-world resources. After all, what better way to mock 'digital scarcity' than by showing it's built on a foundation of stolen abundance? The irony is almost too perfect for finance bros who've never seen a power bill.
So, while the miners sought to print money, they may have just minted the strongest case yet for draconian oversight. The real volatility was never in the token price—it was in the grid frequency.
Russian police arrest illegal mining accomplices
According to local media reports, all seven employees of the power grid company who were arrested provided paid services to mining farm owners.
Some of those services include artificially lowering electricity meter readings and assisting in evading scheduled and unscheduled inspections by the authorities. They did this in exchange for monetary compensation, according to what the police said.
With their assistance, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs claims that up to two illegal cryptocurrency mining data centers located on private property in the city of Chekhov evaded detection even though they had been operating successfully since 2024, well outside the oversight of regulatory authorities.
Estimates of all the preliminary damage that has been caused by the covert assistance of energy company employees to miners is approximately 10 million rubles.
The arrest aligns with a broader ongoing crackdown in Russia on illegal crypto mining, an activity that drains a significant amount of electricity, leaving huge strains on the grid.
In the past, Rosseti had complained about this, citing losses running into the millions. And now, authorities have doubled efforts, and this arrest is a step forward in that process.
Authorities shut down other illegal mining farms
The arrests come days after the FSB and police officers shut down an illegal mining farm that caused 5 million rubles in damage to the Priargunsky Industrial Mining and Chemical Association (PIMCHO), named after E.P. Slavsky.
According to the Transbaikal Office of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the farm housed a network of cryptocurrency mining equipment connected to the PIMCU power grid, and electricity was “consumed without metering” while the actual consumption was deliberately underreported, the security officials claimed.
A search of the property turned up mining equipment that was seized, and a criminal case has been opened under Article 165, Part 2, Clause “b” of the Russian Criminal Code (causing property damage by deception or breach of trust on an especially large scale).
Earlier, Russian newspaper Kommersant, citing a draft protocol of the government commission on electric power, had reported that a year-round ban on mining is planned for 2026 in southern Buryatia and the Trans-Baikal Territory.
This is likely to curb illegal mining in those areas. However, how effective it will be remains to be seen.
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