Police Bust Chinese Bitcoin Mining Farm After Surge in Power Usage

Police in eastern China busted a bitcoin mining operation following a surge in local electricity usage, according to a wire report from Agence France-Press.

The police, who confiscated 4,000 “mining devices,” allege the mining farm misappropriated nearly 20 million yuan ($3 million) in electricity costs. The investigators learned of the theft from a local power provider.

“In value, it is the largest case in the amount of electricity stolen that Jiangsu has cracked since the founding of New China, and a rare sight in the whole country,” Zhenjiang police reportedly said to AFP.

Investigators allege more than 20 people participated in this particular mining operation.

Bitcoin mining is still popular in China. Coinshare, an investment platform, published a report that found 50 percent of the global bitcoin computing power was located in southern China.

Recently, with bitcoin’s surge in price to around $12,000 the difficulty of the algorithm reached