A 44-year-old man in Bodaybo, Irkutsk Oblast, will stand trial for allegedly operating an underground cryptocurrency mining farm that caused eight million rubles in damages to local power suppliers.
Investigators say the illegal facility operated for four years inside an industrial workshop rented by the suspect's wife, drawing unmetered electricity directly from a transformer substation.
According to the prosecution, the secret operation ran from January 2021 to January 2025. The farm contained at least 39 crypto mining machines and auxiliary devices housed within a specialized container and soundproofing boxes to muffle operational noise.
Investigators state that the equipment was connected straight to the electrical grid without a power supply contract or metering equipment. As a result, the landlord of the industrial facility unknowingly absorbed the electricity charges incurred by the illegal mining hardware.
Illegal Mining Charges and Penalties
The 44-year-old suspect faces charges of causing property damage through deceit or breach of trust on an exceptionally large scale. If convicted, he faces up to five years of compulsory labor or up to five years in a penal colony.
Industrial cryptocurrency mining is legal in Bodaybo, but operators across Russia are legally required to register with the official state registry of miners.
Cryptocurrency mining relies on high-powered computer hardware to process blockchain transactions, a procedure that consumes large quantities of electricity continuously and generates extreme heat. Irkutsk Oblast in eastern Siberia has long been a hub for crypto mining due to its cold climate and relatively cheap electricity generated by hydroelectric power plants. However, illicit taps into transformer substations strain regional energy networks and cause severe financial losses for utilities.
Crackdown on Unregistered Siberian Farms
Russian energy companies and law enforcement have stepped up efforts to detect secret mining hardware hidden in commercial spaces. In a recent case in Rossosh, Voronezh Oblast, workers from Voronezhenergo and Rosseti Centre uncovered a hidden mining farm containing 110 devices. Power companies estimated the damages from that unauthorized operation at approximately 5.9 million rubles.
