Malaysia: Police raid illegal Bitcoin mining farms

Authorities in Malaysia report that they have conducted several raids on multiple Bitcoin mining facilities in the country, which were reportedly avoiding electricity bills for more than six months.

The illegal operations became known to the authorities once one of the largest local electricity and utility companies, Tanaga Nasional Berhad reported that it has not received more than $750,000 in electricity payments for services rendered.

The police later raided as many as 33 apartments in the capital city of Pahang.

It turned out that the miners were drawing power directly from the distribution board, therefore they managed to stay under the radar of the company’s counters installed in the apartment buildings where the farms were located.

This allowed them to pay only $56 in electricity bills when in reality they were supposed to pay more than $20,000 every single month.

It needs to be noted that Malaysia recognizes Bitcoin mining as a legitimate industry and allows both citizens and foreigners to conduct these operations as long as they apply and are approved for a license. However, even if the miners in question had a license, avoiding payments on something as crucial to mining as electricity would not have been glanced over.