In the press service of the Irkutsk Region Prosecutor's Office сообщили that the police, together with employees of a network company, stopped the activities of a large cryptocurrency mining farm.
According to the information provided, the mining farm was located in a non-residential building on Stroiteley Montazhnikov Avenue. The farm owner (an individual) mined cryptocurrency without being included in the register of miners and during the period of the ban on mining in the region. As a result of the police actions, 250 units of equipment were seized, and energy consumption, estimated at 1 MW, was limited.
The Shelekhov district of the Irkutsk region is among the territories where mining is prohibited from January 1 to March 15, 2025, in accordance with a government decree.
The authorities believe that such prohibitive measures are aimed at reducing the load on the power grid and preventing interruptions in the power supply to the population. The police have now organized an investigation under Article 165 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Causing property damage by deception or abuse of trust").
Let us recall that the provisions of the law "On digital financial assets" came into force in Russia on November 1, 2024. All legal entities and individual entrepreneurs mining cryptocurrency must register in a special register of the Federal Tax Service.
Individuals do not need to do this, provided that they are engaged in mining, using electricity no more than 6 thousand kWh per month.