Russian prosecutors have successfully shut down a massive illegal crypto mining farm operating in an industrial plant on state-owned property. The farm, spanning 30,000 square meters, was located in the town of Nazarovo, Central Siberia, approximately 240 km west of Krasnoyarsk.
According to a Telegram post from the official account of the Krasnoyarsk Krai Prosecutor’s Office, the facility was operating openly in the town’s industrial hub district, with operators fencing off the area with barbed wire. Despite attempts to conceal the operation, it was easily noticeable due to its conspicuous location.
The prosecutors revealed that the farm used numerous transformers, power generators, cooling equipment, and crypto mining rigs. The site was officially registered as a “non-residential building” under the name of a management company. However, during the raid, investigators discovered unauthorized connections to the city’s power grid and a lack of compliance with fire safety regulations, posing a significant public safety risk.
The management company had leased the property to a crypto mining firm under false pretenses, using a “non-existent building” for their operations. The energy provider tipped off the prosecutors after detecting potential emergency power outages at the facility. Subsequent investigations revealed that the miners had not obtained permission to operate power-receiving units or use state-owned land.
Despite warnings from prosecutors to cease operations, the operator ignored the requests, prompting a district court to ban all activities at the facility until the violations were rectified. In a separate incident earlier this year, a staffer at a Krasnoyarsk Krai energy provider was caught accepting bribes from illegal crypto miners to turn a blind eye to their operations and unauthorized connections to the grid.
The illegal miners were found to have stolen electricity worth millions of rubles from the Krasnoyarsk Krai energy system. Krasnoyarsk Krai is recognized as one of Russia’s top three crypto mining regions, alongside the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Tatarstan, according to the Federal Tax Service’s registry of crypto miners.
The crackdown on the illegal crypto mining farm underscores the authorities’ commitment to enforcing regulations and preventing illicit activities in the crypto industry. By dismantling such operations, law enforcement agencies aim to uphold legal standards, protect public safety, and safeguard state-owned property from unauthorized use.