Cryptominer in Taiwan must pay a fine for using private electricity

Recently Changhua city court demanded that a cryptominer pay around $55,547 for the improper use of electricity for crypto mining operations. The cryptominer, whose last name is Cheng, would have installed 20 pieces of equipment towards the private line that, curiously, is not connected to an electric meter. Therefore, the owners of the company had no record of electricity consumption.

Now the cryptominer is facing a serious sentence for operating an illegal farm and using energy that was not under his authority. In his defense, Cheng said that he had no idea what was happening and that his father installed it before he died.

Illegal crypto-mining operations in Taiwan

Since the beginning of 2022, the Taiwanese authorities, both the Changhua city police and the inspectors of the Taipower company, have been investigating strange energy consumption. By January, the electric power company discovered that Cheng had illegally installed 20 computers for his cryptominer. Also, Taipower sued the city for stealing power for an unknown period.

However, the prosecutor’s office in Changhua refused to accept that it was a robbery but rather an attempt to hide payments by Taipower. This is because the investigation shows that the company sought to have Cheng cancel the service, but this all happened without a stipulated contract.

According to the agreements that Taipower establishes, they have the right to charge almost double the electric bill each year if it is verified that there was an infraction of their client. Cheng’s defense indicates that the citizen had no idea of ​​the robbery, which is why he should not be charged.

Likewise, the cryptominer indicates that he should only pay 7 months of the debt, not one year, as Taipower cites in the lawsuit. The citizen supports his defense with the police investigation where they presume that the crypto-mining farm has been working since the third quarter of 2020.

Taiwanese cryptominer could reach a settlement

The crypto miner’s defense shows that Cheng is only liable to pay 584 NT and not 1,654,308 NT as stated by the power company. This is because the lawyers see it as irrelevant that Taipower collects almost double the debt for something that Cheng was unaware of.

Finally, the trial concluded that Cheng would pay the bill from December 2019 until 2021, when he was discovered. Taipower did not win in court, but it did show that it is a company that goes against crypto-mining activities in the country and would be altering the invoices. It is not known exactly what type of token Cheng would be mining on the farm, although it is presumed to be Bitcoin, taking into account that it is the most valued crypto in the virtual market.