Irkutsk Region Busts 1,000 Illegal Crypto Miners in a Year, Fires a Major Concern!

Since the start of 2023, power engineers in Russia’s Irkutsk region have discovered nearly a thousand new ‘grey’ mining locations. As a result, the total number of recorded illegal mining addresses has surged to over 5,100, according to Irkutskenergosbyt, according to the getblock.

Illegal cryptocurrency mining is rampant, especially in the region’s capital, followed by Angarsk city district with around 500 suspicious addresses. Additionally, authorities have identified over 300 illegal mining addresses at the Angarsk and Shelekhov districts border, with 250 more in the Khomutovo agglomeration.

The rise of illegal crypto mining has led to increasing concerns over safety, primarily due to the risk of fires. Mining farms require high power and when connected to household networks in unequipped locations, they can pose a significant fire hazard.

Despite the introduction of a differentiated payment system for electricity in 2022, the situation in Irkutsk remains unchanged. Local residents have petitioned President Vladimir Putin to address this pressing issue.

In a related development, authorities seized over 9,000 devices for illegal crypto mining from combined heat and power plants (CHPs) in the region in August 2022. The governor, Igor Kobzev, has suggested allocating space for legal mining farms, pending federal law on cryptocurrency mining.

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