Inside China’s underground crypto mining operation, where people are risking it all to make bitcoin.
, China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country's anti-corruption watchdog, said it had identified dozens of state-owned entities in the eastern province of Zhejiang that were using public resources to mine for twelve cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and monero. Of the nearly 50 people who were penalized, 21 worked at state-owned enterprises or Communist Party agencies.
The biggest players in the business, who already had connections overseas and cash to spare, got out fast. Many shipped their gear and moved their teams to Kazakhstan, the U.S., and other international destinations with low-cost power and available hosting capacity. Medium-sized miners were "100% screwed" in this year's crackdown, according to one expert speaking to CNBC. They couldn't offload their equipment to recoup their losses, nor could they mine at full capacity again, because their electrical footprint is easy to pick out.
For the hundreds of miners running on grid power, Ben told CNBC that he has spread them out across the country, in order to evade detection by authorities. The wet season in China runs from May into the late fall, and monsoon-level rainfall translates to an abundance of hydropower, which is more easily captured from behind the meter.
In Ben's case, most of his rigs run on hydropower. He has two sites in Sichuan. One is 12 megawatts and the second is eight megawatts. Ben told CNBC that in China, a mine that is above one megawatt at a single location is now considered sizable.Even before the ban, it was increasingly standard practice for miners of means to rent their own transformers and substations, in order to provide power to mining sites directly from power plants.
This recently happened to Ben, but he says he was lucky because the power plant owner likes him. When the government contacted the power plant about suspicious activity, the owner covered for Ben. After the call, Ben shut off the mine for a few days, took some extra steps to mask his network traffic, then powered back on.Miners conceal their IP address by using a virtual private network, or VPN, to mask their geographic digital footprint.
"A pool doesn't have to reveal any data," continued Ben. "You're basically telling the world that my revenue is only half of what I actually have. You don't brag about it." Long tells CNBC that many of these foreign pools provide them with technology that disguises what they're doing.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Go Inside The Mind of Dior's Master PerfumerFollow master perfumer François Demachy create the world's most beloved perfumes.
Read more »
Inside the Mysterious Disappearance of Chinese Tennis Star Peng ShuaiThe 35-year-old went missing after accusing a state official of rape. Now she’s purportedly back—and recanting her claims.
Read more »
2021 Notebook: On Jan. 6, chaos inside the Capitol and out | AP NewsTHE BACKGROUND: On Jan, 6 as Congress was meeting to certify the victory of Joe Biden, hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters who claimed the election had been stolen violently pushed past police, broke through windows and doors and entered the Capitol, forcing legislators to interrupt their work and flee.
Read more »
Shooting near Nordstrom sees multiple people gunned down inside mall'For a second I thought, 'There is no way this is actually happening.' I thought they were fireworks,' said a shopper who hid in a storage closet.
Read more »
Inside the Royal Family's Brand New Christmas PlansThe royal family are doing things differently this holiday season—get details on their Christmas plans here.
Read more »
Inside Charley Webb and Matthew Wolfenden's idyllic life as she quits EmmerdaleCharley Webb and Matthew Wolfenden show off their fun-filled house and family life on Instagram and have dropped hints they may not be stopping at three children
Read more »