Russian prosecutors have dismantled a sprawling illegal cryptocurrency mining operation covering 30,000 square meters within an industrial plant in Nazarovo, Central Siberia.
The facility was situated on state-owned land approximately 240 kilometres west of Krasnoyarsk, according to an official statement from the Krasnoyarsk Krai Prosecutor’s Office on Telegram.
The open-air mining farm, enclosed by barbed wire, was highly visible in the town’s industrial district. Registered officially as a “non-residential building” under a management company, the site concealed extensive mining equipment. Investigators found numerous transformers, power generators, cooling systems, and crypto mining rigs connected illicitly to the city’s power grid.
Authorities received a tip from an energy provider indicating a high risk of emergency power outages at the site. Upon investigation, prosecutors confirmed that the operators had neither permission to use power-receiving units nor legal rights to occupy the state-owned property. Furthermore, the miners failed to meet fire safety standards, posing a significant risk to public safety.
The management company had leased the premises, including a so-called “non-existent building,” to the crypto mining firm. Despite warnings from prosecutors to cease operations, the firm continued to operate. Consequently, a district court banned all activities at the site until violations were corrected.
This crackdown follows a related corruption case in which a Krasnoyarsk Krai energy employee was caught accepting bribes totalling $7,380 to overlook illegal electricity usage by cryptocurrency miners. Investigators estimated the miners had stolen electricity worth about 9.4 million rubles ($119,592) from the regional power system.
Krasnoyarsk Krai ranks among Russia’s top three regions for crypto mining, alongside Irkutsk and Tatarstan, according to the Federal Tax Service’s registry. The incident highlights ongoing challenges in regulating crypto mining operations and preventing illicit power consumption in Russia.
Notably, Pakistan will allocate 2,000 megawatts of electricity for Bitcoin mining and AI data centers in the first stage of its national digital infrastructure plan. This initiative aims to utilise surplus electricity for cryptocurrency mining and AI, according to the finance ministry.
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