Indonesia Shuts Down Bitcoin Miners, China Sentences Official

The authorities in Indonesia shut down ten Bitcoin mining operations and charged the organizers with stealing electricity worth over one million dollars.

According to a recent report from the local community, the North Sumatra Police Force took action against a bitcoin mining operation that was spread out across ten different locations in Indonesia.

“As we can see here, this is the PLN box. However, the electricity flow inside it is not the proper flow that should enter the box and be measured by the meter. Instead, what they took is the upper part, where electricity is taken directly from the pole and channeled inside.”

As part of their investigation, they seized 1,134 Bitcoin mining devices, in addition to 11 meters of electrical wire and computer-related equipment. The Chief of Police in North Sumatra, Irjen Agung Setya Imam Effendi, alleged that the individuals responsible for organizing the operation interfered with the electrical circuits used to power the significantly large number of Bitcoin mining machines.

Furthermore, the alleged overall loss resulting from the theft of electricity at these ten locations is estimated to be 14.4 billion Indonesian rupiahs, equivalent to approximately $935,666.

A Chinese government official was found guilty of providing access to electricity for Bitcoin miners and was eventually sentenced to life in jail for his actions.

According to reports, the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court awarded Yi Xiao, a former vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Political Consultative Conference Party Group, a sentence of life in prison for abuse of power in a Bitcoin mining firm.

The court sentenced Yi Xiao to life in prison after convicting him. Between 2017 and 2021, Xiao allegedly used the corporate name Jiumu Group Genesis Technology to operate a Bitcoin mining operation valued at 2.4 billion Chinese yuan, equivalent to $329 million.

Xiao, along with other CEOs from corporations, amassed more than 160,000 bitcoin miners and, at one time, absorbed ten percent of the total electrical supply in the city of Fuzhou.