The Chinese police have unearthed a secret Bitcoin mining scheme in what seemed to be multiple underground graveyards. According to a local media outlet, Beijing News, Chinese law enforcement authorities have uncovered the illegal mining operation in the Chinese city of Daqing.
In particular, the secret Bitcoin mining scheme was set up on what appeared to be two burial mounds. The authorities decided to survey the area, after being tipped by a local oil company about unexplained electrical outages.
Secret Bitcoin mining scheme running on stolen electricity
The law enforcement officers found the entry to the graveyard, and after some digging,they found some hardware used to mine Bitcoin, running on stolen electric power. Additionally, the local news outlet reported that the police discovered 54 Bitcoin mining hardware under a dog’s kennel in the same county, in Heilongjiang province.
These illegal mining incidents might have been spurred by last week’s rise in the price of BTC. Although China is a big supporter of blockchain technology, the same cannot be said about digital currencies. The trading of cryptocurrencies remains illegal in the Asian nation, while Bitcoin mining is not.
Chinese authorities crack down mining operations
Chinese authorities have embarked on a mission to crack down illegal mining in the country. As the price of digital currencies start surging, so do mining activities elevate. Just recently, the provincial administration of Sichuan announced the suspension of local farms from mining digital currencies citing increased illegal mining.
Notably, according to a report from a study carried out by Cambridge University, Sichuan is allegedly responsible for roughly 10 percent of the world’s total Bitcoin hash rate. Seemingly, the province was initially targeting to lure more miners so as to counter the economic down-slide; brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, according to reports illegal fundraising and multi-level marketing projects thrived