In 2020, the scale of underground mining increased sharply against the background of the rise in prices for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
In the post-Soviet space, Russia, Abkhazia, and Ukraine are leading in terms of the number of discovered mining farms illegally connected to power grids.
In the rest of Eastern Europe, there is also a growing number of people and companies that are engaged in crypto mining but prefer not to pay for electricity.
A large clandestine farm was recently discovered by law enforcement officers and power engineers in Bulgaria. Local media reported that the equipment was located in one of the utility rooms in the Sofia region (Kherakovo village).
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Power engineers began to sound the alarm when they recorded a surge in electricity consumption in the part of the settlement where the farm was operating. During a joint raid by police and power engineers, premises were found where devices for mining cryptocurrency were located, connected to transformers.
According to preliminary data, the farm owners stole as much electricity as could be used to power more than 4,200 households.
Law enforcement agencies have begun looking for equipment owners to charge them with electricity theft.