- The area of Irkutsk is famous with miners because of its low electricity prices as well as cold winters.
- Policymakers as well as power offers have witnessed an uphill battle as they direct miners from exploiting subsidized power planned for residential areas to mine coins.
- Crypto mining is not legal in many parts of Russia such as Southern Irkutsk, at the time of winter months.
A Siberian power company, Irkutsk Energosbyt, has recently revealed that it wants to execute about 400 illegal crypto miners. Also, the provider has revealed that illegal miners in the area have so far stolen around $6.3 million worth of power from the grid.
According to a news channel from Russia, RBC, Irkutsk Energosbyt has filed around 2,113 lawsuits against private beings for the illegal use of electricity for mining crypto in the last five years.
The mentioned company is searching for gray miners who place mining equipment in places not planned for this purpose. The firm revealed that most of these persons establish their rigs in garages, private houses, on balconies of apartments, and in garden plots.
Justification of energy consumption
The company referred to crypto mining rigs as powerful devices that boost the load on household power grids. And this, they declare, can lead to accidents on power lines over the Siberian region.
The director of Irkutsk Energisbyt, Andrey Kharitonov revealed that as of the first day of this year, courts have ordered in favor of energy firms in 1,348 cases. Now, we are preparing over 400 additional lawsuits.
Around 104 miners have so far selected to pay energy providers in out-of-court settlements. We wish to carry on our legal campaign. The Russian channel reported that litigants had utilized a broad range of excuses in court to justify their energy consumption, opposing that they operate crypto mining rigs.
In a case, RBC reported that a defendant said that he was operating 10 heat guns in a 20sqm room as he liked hot temperatures. One more defendant told the court that he uses a boiler continuously to encourage an artificial reservoir having distilled water.
The popularity of miners in Irkutsk
The area of Irkutsk is famous with miners because of its low electricity prices as well as cold winters. In the past few years, it has become the de facto capital of Russia’s swift-growing Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry.
Policymakers as well as power offers have witnessed an uphill battle as they direct miners from exploiting subsidized power planned for residential areas to mine coins. Last month, the members of the State Duma offered a bill that would clear crypto miners of their electricity profits.
Crypto mining is not legal in many parts of Russia such as Southern Irkutsk, at the time of winter months. At the same time, in the remaining parts of the nation, private individuals are free to mine coins at home, even utilizing subsidized power, if they do not exploit more than 6,000 kWh every month.
The head of the Industrial Mining Association, Sergey Bezdelov revealed that in FY2024 in the fourth quarter, the call for industrial mining equipment and services boosted neatly in Russia. Bezdelov also revealed that sales have boosted threefold compared to the same duration in FY2023.
