Cointelegraph just reported that a young man from Russia is currently facing court allegations, as he illegally mined Bitcoin through state-owned servers. Reportedly, the man is from Kurgan, a Siberian city.
The “theft” was reported by the local office of Russia’s Federal Security Service or FSB. The breach, however, occurred not only in his region, but in two more. Only when the Internal Security Division at Yaroslavl city noticed that the young man was trying to hack their server, was the breach discovered.
The “intruder”, if found guilty, can spend up to five years in prison, as he deliberately used government-state equipment for his own interest and illegal mining of the digital coin.
Interestingly, though, it is not the real mining that is so “unlawful”, but rather the electricity that is being used to actually mine the cryptocurrency of choice. So, it’s not really the act of mining, but rather the resource hackers use to create digital coins.
Cointelegraph also reported that recently, a Chinese hacker was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison, as he used the free electricity from a local train station to mine Bitcoin.
The electricity used for mining cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, is a top concern for many governments and even citizens. The electricity power used to mine digital coins is, in certain cases, excessively high and hackers often take advantage of “free” electricity around them.