Russian Authorities Bust Enormous Illegal Crypto Mining Operation

Disguised as an Industrial Plant, the Farm Raked in Millions

Boom! Russian prosecutors have just blown the lid off a colossal illegal crypto mining farm in Nazarovo, an industrial town in Krasnoyarsk Krai. This beast of an operation was masquerading as an industrial plant on state-owned land, and it was pulling in a cool 4.6 million rubles ($58,672) each month!

Imagine this: a 30,000-square-meter site, supposed to be a non-residential building, but guess what? It's all a sham! No building, just a sprawling field jam-packed with mining rigs, power units, and all sorts of gear, all rented out to some shady third party. The prosecutors were like, "Nah, you can't just use state land like it's your personal playground!"

Hold onto your hats, because it gets wilder. These miners had the audacity to hook their setup straight into the city's power grid! Talk about playing with fire—literally. Not only was it a safety nightmare, but it also messed with the risk of power outages. Plus, they were totally ignoring fire safety rules. What a mess!

The prosecutors tried to give them a heads-up, but nope, the miners ignored the warning. So, it went to court, and bam! The judge slammed the brakes on the whole operation until they sort out their legal mess. The prosecutor's office is all over it, making sure the court's orders are followed to the letter.

Just last year, Russia said, "Alright, crypto mining is cool," and they set up a tax system that could rake in up to 200 billion rubles ($2 billion) a year. But hold up—since then, they've been putting the brakes on mining in some Siberian spots to keep the power flowing smoothly.

Even though mining's legal across Russia—except in those restricted zones—a bunch of miners are dodging the system to duck high electricity bills and taxes. They're pulling all sorts of stunts, like tapping into the power grid illegally, using home rates, or running their setups off the books. It's a wild west out there, straining local infrastructure and posing some serious safety risks.

Check this out: earlier this year, a sneaky staff member at a regional energy provider in Krasnoyarsk Krai got caught taking bribes to look the other way on illegal mining connections. These miners had siphoned off electricity worth over 9 million rubles ($119,000) by skipping the official grid. Crazy, right?

And if you thought that was the end of it, think again. Hackers are getting in on the action, exploiting Russian smart home devices to turn them into crypto mining botnets and cyberattack tools. It's a whole new level of resourcefulness—and recklessness.