Discovery: Russia's Oldest prison home to illegal crypto mining farm 

By: Mark Jessy

May 23, 2022 3:17 PM

Russian law enforcement officials are probing a crypto mining operation at Butyrka, Russia’s oldest prison. A deputy warden has been charged of stealing electricity to mint digital coins with the help of unidentified cohorts. 

Deputy Warden a prime Suspect of Mining Cryptocurrency in Moscow Prison 

A high- ranking representative of the administration of Butyrskaya prison, in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow, is under probation for setting up a crypto mining farm. Also known as Butyrka, this is the oldest prison in Russia, constructed in the distant 1771. 

The coin minting hardware was found in the ground of a psychiatric clinic run by the Federal Penitentiary Service at the prison. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is presently checking one of the deputy wardens for possible abuse of power, the business daily Kommersant reported this week. 

The investigators have so far established that the official, together with his cohorts who are yet to be linked, fixed the mining equipment in November 2021. 

 
During that period, the machines consumed nearly 8,400 kW of electricity paid by the government at a total cost of further than 62k rubles ( close to$1000). For this, the deputy warden is indicted of “ conduct that easily go beyond his powers, thereby significantly violating the legally defended interests of the society or the state.” 

Crypto mining with subsidized and occasionally stolen electricity has become an appealing source of added income for numerous Russians. Regions alike as Krasnoyarsk Krai and Irkutsk Oblast, which have historically maintained low electricity rates for the population and public institutions, have grow hotspots of the unauthorized exercise. 

Illegal miners have been Criticized for frequent breakdowns and blackouts, particularly in domestic areas where electrical grids are unfit to handle the insane loads. To deal with the phenomenon, Russia’s anti-monopoly agency lately proposed the introduction of advanced electricity rates for home crypto miners. 

 
so far, various raids have been carried out against underground mining operations across the country, with law enforcement agencies lately seizing over mining rigs from two illegal cryptocurrency farms in Dagestan. One of them was minting cryptocurrency at a pumping station of the Russian republic’s water supply service.