Truck-based Bitcoin miner found stealing power in Siberian village
Russian authorities found a mobile data center illegally siphoning electricity meant for a nearby village to mine cryptocurrency.
A report from Russian news outlet TASS revealed the Kamaz-made truck contained 95 mining rigs and a mobile transformer substation, and was situated in the Pribaikalsky District of the Republic of Buryatia, eastern Siberia, where a seasonal mining ban is currently in place.
Russia temporarily halts all mining activities in certain regions at specific parts of the year when strain on the power grid peaks. A ban is in place in the Buryatia region between November 15 to March 15.
The illegal cryptomining setup was reportedly drawing power directly from a 10kV line - enough to power an entire village.
"Inside the truck, 95 mining devices and a transformer substation were found, capable of providing power to a small settlement," TASS said.
No arrests were reported, however, it was noted that two potential suspects were seen fleeing the scene in an SUV.
This is the sixth instance of criminals stealing local power to mine cryptocurrencies in the Buryatia region since the beginning of 2025. Local authorities have repeatedly warned against mining cryptocurrencies due to its propensity to strain the grid at inconvenient times, leading to voltage drops, overloads, and blackout risks.
Criminals have shown that they rarely lack creativity when it comes to stealing state power to mine cryptocurrency.
An entire region in Kuwait saw its electricity consumption halve after a recent crypto crackdown. In 2024, 18 data centers in Sweden were shut down after they were all found to have been taking part in illegal crypto mining.
In 2021, five self-cooled mining rigs were found in a Massachusetts high school crawl space, which were eventually judged to have been responsible for the theft of $17,492 during the eight months before they, and the school facilities assistant who set them up, were found.
