Information published by various news agencies indicates that the Iceland police captured 11 people suspected of having stolen more than 600 computers used to mine cryptocurrencies.
The BBC news agency explained that the computers were stolen in four assaults perpetrated in data centers based in the country. Two of the suspects are in the custody of the police authorities, while nine others have been released on bail. The computers that were stolen from the data centers have not yet been recovered.
Iceland is very popular for mining centers. Since almost 100% of the electric power generated in the country comes from renewable sources.
According to information published in our media, the police were getting in contact with several companies, among which are electricity providers, Internet services, and storage units, with the intention of requesting information associated with sudden spikes in the use of resources, which could indicate the usage of the equipment originally stolen. It is estimated that the value of computers stolen illegally is equivalent to almost USD $ 2 million.
During the month of February, the electricity supplier company, HS Orka, informed the media that they were registering an exponential increase in the amount of energy used by these mining centers for the production of crypto assets and verification of cryptocurrency transactions.
At that time, it was reported that for the first time, the energy required for cryptocurrency mining activities had exceeded then originally registered to supply. The supply required by mining activities is more than supply distributed to 340,000 inhabitants in residential areas of the country.
Source: BBC
