Crypto mine crackdown: Ukraine authorities seize 3800 PlayStation 4
2 min readTL;DR Breakdown
- Over 3,000 PlayStation consoles seized in a crypto mine
- Gaming consoles have been used in the past to mine crypto
- Crypto mines shut down in Ukrain were illegal
In what is described as the largest crypto mine crackdown in Ukraine, authorities in the country has seized assets of crypto mining farms including 3800 Playstation 4s.
Reportedly, officials from the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) also seized 50 processors and 500 graphics cards when raiding the illegal mining op.
Per an official statement from the SSU, the operation was on the largest crypto farm in Ukraine, from which they confiscated over 5,000 units of computer equipment.
Crypto mine could require heavy equipment and consume a lot of energy for their operations, however, it remains a mystery how Playstation 4 consoles fit into the need of a crypto mining farm.
Authorities that carried out the operation are yet to state why so many PlayStations were seized in the crypto farm or what they were being used for.
Rife speculation, however, has it that the sheer number of consoles seized indicates that they were being used for cryptocurrency mining purposes similar to how the US government hooked 1500 PlayStation 3s to build a supercomputer.
It would not mark as the first time PlayStation consoles were used to mine crypto if that was what they were used to do at the crypto farms. There has been instances such as the Homebrewed Game Boy and the Raspberry Pi BTC miner.
Beyond PlayStations, shut crypto mine were illegal
The crackdown by authorities on Ukraine follows the closure of a crypto farm that uses stolen electricity to mine cryptos. The firms were operating illegally in the north of the country, in the province of Chernihiv Oblast, where the unidentified owners routed illegal connections from an electrical substation to the mining farm.
150 ASICs were seized which were being operated on illegal electricity. Authorities note that the electricity being stolen was to power ambulance service in Nizhyn, the water utility company, and other facilities.
The owners of the crypto mine tried to hide the theft from the power authorities by installing special equipment to show lower meter readings.
