Ukrainian Railway Employees Caught Illegally Running A Bitcoin Mining Farm Using The States Grid

One of Ukrainian Railways’ (Ukrzaliznytsya) branches in Lviv has been caught mining crypto with electricity from the state power grid.

The mining unit was using electricity from Ukrzaliznytsya to power more than 100 crypto machines and to earn Bitcoin (BTC), an announcement made on November 15^th says. It was discovered by the company’s security department and some local prosecutors. The head of Ukrzaliznytsya’s Department of Economic and Information Security reported that the crypto mining farm was run by officials working for the railway’s Lviv unit.

Electricity Loses of $41 Million

The electricity consumed by the illegal crypto farm has been estimated at 1 million Ukrainian hryvnias, only in 2019. 1 million Ukrainian hryvnias is $40,700. Since it’s illegal to issue and put cryptocurrency into circulation on the territory of Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia reported that criminal proceedings against the employees who were illegally farming Bitcoin have been initiated. More about the case can be found at the Ternopil Police Department. When inspections on the matter were made, Bitcoin was priced at 208,000 Ukrainian hryvnias, which is $8,475.

Ukraine Doesn’t Regulate Cryptocurrency Mining

Since Ukraine doesn’t regulate cryptocurrency mining, there have been many investigations on the industry in the country. In August, operators from a power plant have been arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine for mining crypto. After, some Ukrainian police employees have been caught doing the same thing at work.

In 2018, the State for Special Communication and Information Protection said they don’t plan to regulate crypto mining anytime soon. However, an announcement stating that Ukrainian authorities are going to consult with the giant crypto exchange Binance for establishing legislation for cryptocurrency mining has still been made.