Thai Law Authorities Raid Illegal Bitcoin Mining Facility: Report

Thailand’s law authorities recently raided a house occupied by a company running Bitcoin mining operations.

According to the South China Morning Post’s coverage, the illegally operated Bitcoin mining activities triggered frequent power outages in the vicinity for over a month.

Illegal Bitcoin Mining Operations

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, uses a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. This entails that transactions are added to the blockchain through the mining process. Miners use mining machines and associated equipment to perform this task and get rewarded with BTC. The whole process is an energy-intensive activity, implying that machines used for the operation consume large amounts of electricity and expel heat.

The Thai government classifies Bitcoin mining as a manufacturing operation. This means that miners in the country must pay the required tax.

Jamnong Chanwong, a chief district security officer, led the police and officials from the Provincial Electricity Authorities (PEA) that raided the house where the Bitcoin mining operations occurred. In an initial attempt to access the house, a guard stopped the law authorities. After securing a search warrant, the squad returned for a raid, only to discover that most of the mining rigs had been moved.

Investigations showed that an unnamed company rented the house for about four months. However, the power outages began in July when the mining equipment was fully installed.

Highlighting how the company succeeded in circumventing the necessary taxation, Chanwong stated:

We found Bitcoin mining rigs, pointing to people using this house to operate a mine and using power they didn’t fully pay for.

Chanwong added that no individual was arrested during the raid.

Not the First Time

This is not the first time Thai law enforcement authorities have detected illegal Bitcoin mining operations in the country. The SCMP report revealed that this was the fourth time such a raid had occurred in the same vicinity.

Meanwhile, other countries have also cracked down on Bitcoin mining operations. Some days ago, CryptoPotato reported that the Malaysian law authorities arrested and charged several individuals tied to illegal Bitcoin mining activities in the country.