The extraction of Crypto is one of the largest sources of energy consumption in the world: we generally pay money for electricity, and this is an accepted cost for mining. can also other money through a crypto mining when you steal electricity – and that's what people around the world have started doing.
Every year about $ 90 billion of energy is stolen around the world. offenders include Brazil, India and Russia.
In the countries of the first world, energy theft is typically linked to illicit activities, such as indoor marijuana growing operations.
In recent years, however, these countries have seen change. The amount of encryption-related electricity theft is increasingly significant
As The Next Web points out, in the last five years the Netherlands has seen a 20% increase in non-electricity fraud cases. tied to weeds.
"Among these there is a new group of electricity thieves present a challenge for the operators of the police network and distribution: the bitcoin miners.In contrast to the weed farms in which the lights do not have to be in operation day and night, bitcoin miners can keep the bitcoin mining and drain energy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. "
To combat bitcoin mining operations, grid operators must use new tools and analysis systems. The Next Web highlighted some of the methods used by electricity grid operators to combat the theft of electricity related to bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin Mining is legal – If you pay the bills
First of all, it is important to note that bitcoin mining is legal in most of the countries. Unlike an indoor marijuana cultivation operation, there is no need to take measures to hide the use of electricity. You can manage a bitcoin coal mine and, if you pay your bills, you have nothing to worry about.
Where bitcoin miners get in trouble is in places like Europe, home to some of the highest electricity prices in the world. Bitcoin mining is typically not profitable in Europe due to high electricity prices.
That's why some European bitcoin miners are turning to energy fraud to increase their profits. By stealing electricity, you can remove the higher expenses from the operation.
A system manager in the Netherlands, for example, was fired after his boss discovered a bitcoin mine he had secretly installed in the company's server room.
energy is the biggest expense with bitcoin mining. A bitcoin miner can expect to spend about half of its profits on the energy bill.
What Happens If Caught?
The Next Web highlighted how the forces of order in the Netherlands deal with bitcoin mining. [19659004] In the Netherlands, electricity thieves only have to pay the electricity supplier the price for the extra electricity they used. This can lead to electricity thieves paying less than ordinary consumers.
Police will look through the owner's mobile device and examine other evidence to determine how long the bitcoin mine was running. They will check the number of cars in circulation, for example, and how long you have been stealing electricity.
Ultimately, most of the bitcoin mining operations that steal electricity occur under the radar, making it difficult for the police to find evidence
Bitcoin mines that use stolen electricity can be dangerous
another danger for bitcoin mines that use stolen electricity: they can be potentially lethal environments.
"In terms of public safety, electrical fraud is an even bigger problem," explains The Next Web. "Live cables in bitcoin mines – just like weeds – could be highly flammable, creating potentially lethal situations. and outlets can easily burn when machines connected to them – like bitcoin mines or server cooling fans – require more power than they can handle. "
You might remember the story of a sly bitcoin manipulating the his farm server to the water heating system of his house, allowing him to heat his bath water using the heat dissipated by his bitcoin servers. The system was so effective that its machines had to be turned off periodically when the water reached a temperature close to boiling.
How does the police find illegal Bitcoin mining farms?
Police are using a number of different strategies to find illicit bitcoin mining companies. Many of these strategies have been transferred from weed detection processes. In fact, The Next Web highlighted a story from the Netherlands where the police broke into a building that expected to find an illegal weed, only to find a bitcoin instead.
Unexplained problems of heat and electricity in the neighborhood are one of the first signs of an illicit bitcoin extraction problem. Residents could call the police and report that their walls felt strangely hot, for example, or that their lights flickered.
Neighbors are encouraged to report these problems. After all, if the bitcoin farm next door goes up in flames, then it can quickly spread to all the surrounding buildings.
According to reports, the police also use large data and artificial intelligence. For example, researchers from the University of Luxembourg have recently developed an algorithm that monitors the energy usage of 3.6 million Brazilian households over a 5-year period. The algorithm identified properties with a suspiciously low power consumption. Thus, regulators can control these properties individually.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the statistics show that the bitcoin network represents 0.5% of the entire world energy consumption. This is equivalent to the entire energy consumption of a country like Ireland. Keep in mind that this is only bitcoin mining and it's only an estimate – the entire energy impact of the crypto industry could be even higher.
Most bitcoin mining activities are legal. Bitcoin miners pay electricity bills just like anyone else. For miners seeking to maximize profits at the expense of risk, however, stealing energy offers a lucrative opportunity
For more information on how order forces are monitoring illegal bitcoin mining activities around the world world, read the complete article of The Next Web here. [19659035] crypto training course "width =" 696 "height =" 449 "/>