Russie : des employés du réseau électrique arrêtés pour leur rôle présumé dans du minage de cryptomonnaie illégal

Le réseau électrique russe au cœur d'une affaire de minage clandestin.

L'utilisation détournée de l'infrastructure d'État

Des employés d'un opérateur du réseau électrique russe ont été interpellés. Les autorités les soupçonnent d'avoir détourné des ressources énergétiques à grande échelle pour alimenter des fermes de minage de cryptomonnaies non autorisées. Cette affaire met en lumière une pratique risquée : contourner le système pour capter une électricité subventionnée, transformant des biens publics en générateurs de profits privés.

Un coup de semonce réglementaire

Cette arrestation agit comme un rappel à l'ordre sévère. Elle intervient dans un contexte où les gouvernements du monde entier scrutent l'empreinte énergétique du secteur des actifs numériques. En Russie, où le cadre légal du minage reste en définition, cette action montre une volonté de traquer les abus flagrants qui grèvent les infrastructures nationales. Une approche moins subtile que les débats sur les ETF, mais tout aussi efficace pour refroidir les ardeurs.

La quête de rentabilité à tout prix trouve toujours une faille – même si c'est dans un transformateur haute tension. Une leçon coûteuse sur les risques réels quand la finance décentralisée rencontre un monopole d'État centralisé.

Russian police arrest illegal mining accomplices

According to local media reports, all seven employees of the power grid company who were arrested provided paid services to mining farm owners.

Some of those services include artificially lowering electricity meter readings and assisting in evading scheduled and unscheduled inspections by the authorities. They did this in exchange for monetary compensation, according to what the police said.

With their assistance, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs claims that up to two illegal cryptocurrency mining data centers located on private property in the city of Chekhov evaded detection even though they had been operating successfully since 2024, well outside the oversight of regulatory authorities.

Estimates of all the preliminary damage that has been caused by the covert assistance of energy company employees to miners is approximately 10 million rubles.

The arrest aligns with a broader ongoing crackdown in Russia on illegal crypto mining, an activity that drains a significant amount of electricity, leaving huge strains on the grid.

In the past, Rosseti had complained about this, citing losses running into the millions. And now, authorities have doubled efforts, and this arrest is a step forward in that process.

Authorities shut down other illegal mining farms

The arrests come days after the FSB and police officers shut down an illegal mining farm that caused 5 million rubles in damage to the Priargunsky Industrial Mining and Chemical Association (PIMCHO), named after E.P. Slavsky.

According to the Transbaikal Office of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the farm housed a network of cryptocurrency mining equipment connected to the PIMCU power grid, and electricity was “consumed without metering” while the actual consumption was deliberately underreported, the security officials claimed.

A search of the property turned up mining equipment that was seized, and a criminal case has been opened under Article 165, Part 2, Clause “b” of the Russian Criminal Code (causing property damage by deception or breach of trust on an especially large scale).

Earlier, Russian newspaper Kommersant, citing a draft protocol of the government commission on electric power, had reported that a year-round ban on mining is planned for 2026 in southern Buryatia and the Trans-Baikal Territory.

This is likely to curb illegal mining in those areas. However, how effective it will be remains to be seen.

If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.