Police find bitcoin mine using stolen electricity in West Midlands

Officers from West Midlands police raided a building in an industrial estate on 18 May expecting to find a cannabis farm, but instead stumbled upon the cryptocurrency scheme. No arrests have been made.

Users gain bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies through “mining”, a process in which computers solve complex mathematical puzzles. Those puzzles have by design become more difficult as more bitcoin has been awarded to users, meaning more powerful computers and significantly more energy are needed to make mining worthwhile.

However, it can be lucrative. A single bitcoin was worth $36,392 (£25,732) on Friday afternoon. That was below its all-time high above $64,800 but about five times its value at the start of 2020.

West Midlands police said they had been tipped off to the possible existence of a cannabis farm because of reports of people visiting the industrial unit at all times of day. A police drone flown overhead “picked up a considerable heat source”, usually associated with heaters used to help cannabis plants grow, the force said.

Pictures of the mine released by police showed rows of computers wired together with fans attached to large ventilation ducts. There were about 100 computer units in total.

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