A press release sent out to the public by Ukrzaliznytsia; the Ukraine government-owned railway corporation revealed that it had managed to successfully locate and shut down illegal Bitcoin mining operation based in Ternopil city.
According to details in the report, the operation had been set up in one of its empty buildings located in the city. Oleg Nazaruk, the company CEO posted on Facebook an accompanying statement, saying they had begun investigations to establish the origins of that operation. All the company employees were questioned in an attempt to get some valuable leads.
Bitcoin Illegal Mining Operation
The CEO further provided additional details about the operation in his Facebook post, noting that about 100 computers had been discovered at that location. All the computers in the building had been connected to the company’s power supply lines, which implied that the miners had access to free electricity.
While this may have been advantageous to them, it was an endeavor that saw the company lose up to $40,000 in energy bills.
Too Hard to Pass Up Cheap Power
While the Ukrainian government continues to impose a ban on the sale and circulation of cryptocurrency in the country, it has proven to be a good place for miners to run their mining operations. As is the case with many countries in Eastern Europe, Ukraine happens to have very low electricity costs. Experts estimate that households spend around $0.05 per kWh.
Businesses end up spending around $0.10 kWh. This means that company-owned companies, such as Ukrzaliznytsia, are bound to enjoy even cheaper rates, as confirmed by this earlier tweet.
Because Bitcoin mining perpetually hunts for the cheapest electricity, inevitably, some illegal leeching will occur. This may make businesses more aware of their energy usage/leakage and therefore make global energy consumption more efficient.
— Dan Hedl (@danheld) May 2, 2019
Taking into account the amount of electricity that goes into mining, it’s no wonder that many miners are willing to steal government resources and trespass into foreclosed properties, all in the hope of making a quick buck.
This is not the first time that an illegal mining operation is being busted in Ukraine. Another operation was busted by SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) back in August.