Indonesia Closes 10 Bitcoin Mining Operations Over $1M Power Theft

• A total of about $935,666 USD, was lost due to energy theft at these ten sites.
• The operation’s organisers tampered with the electrical circuits powering the devices.

Ten Bitcoin mining operations allegedly have been shut down by Indonesian police, who have accused the organizers of stealing roughly $1 million USD worth of power.

The North Sumatra Police Force reportedly raided a ten-location Bitcoin mining enterprise, seizing 1,134 mining machines, 11 meters of electrical cable, and a variety of computer gear, as reported in a recent local media report.

Irjen Agung Setya Imam Effendi, chief of police in North Sumatra, has claimed that the operation’s organisers tampered with the electrical circuits that powered the several Bitcoin mining devices. Additionally, it was pointed out that a total of 14 billion Indonesian Rupiahs (IDR), or about $935,666 USD, was lost due to energy theft at these ten sites.

Crackdown in China

Earlier, a Chinese official was given a life sentence for helping Bitcoin miners get access to power. The Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court allegedly handed down a life sentence to Yi Xiao for misuse of authority in a Bitcoin mining firm. Xiao was formerly the deputy chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Political Consultative Conference Party Group.

From 2017 until 2021, Xiao reportedly ran a Bitcoin mining business under the name Jiumu Group Genesis Technology, which was valued at 2.4 billion Chinese yuan, or $329 million. Along with other business leaders, Xiao acquired more than 160,000 Bitcoin miners, which accounted for 10% of Fuzhou’s total power use at one point.

As Bitcoin gained more than 13% in December, data from CryptoQuant shows that miners’ bitcoin holdings reached a record low, last seen in May, after an upsurge of withdrawals last week, indicating that there is increased selling pressure.

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