A Suzhou man was sentenced for theft for stealing electricity to mine Bitcoin

Source: People's Court Daily

Original title: A man in Suzhou was sentenced for theft for stealing electricity to mine Bitcoin

In recent years, the hot market of virtual currencies represented by Bitcoin has attracted various "gold diggers". Virtual currencies are not issued by specific monetary institutions, but are generated through a large number of calculations based on specific algorithms. This process is called "mining". "Mining" is costly, and "mining" each Bitcoin consumes 38,800 degrees of electricity. For this reason, some lawless elements have started to think crookedly. Recently, the Gusu District People's Court of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, sentenced a theft case involving Bitcoin in the first instance.

Hua, a Suzhou man, used a "mining machine" to mine virtual currency for profit. In January 2018, in order to reduce the electricity consumption cost of "mining", Hua privately modified the electric meter and stole electricity by using more and counting less. Fearing that his theft would be exposed, Hua contacted others to remove the modified parts in September 2018. After that, the electric meter had reverse current due to inaccurate counting.

In December 2018, the power supply company sent staff to Hua's home to check because of problems with the meter readings. Although it was clear that the meter was broken and needed to be replaced immediately, Hua repeatedly refused the power supply company's request to replace the meter, and kept his computer, which had 15 USB flash drives and 6 solid-state hard drives plugged in, running all the time.

After the trial, the court held that Hua's behavior constituted the crime of theft. Combining evidence such as witness testimony, expert opinions, electricity user electricity consumption information collection data, and power grid sales price list, it was further determined that the total value of Hua's stolen electricity was more than 26,050.46 yuan. Considering that Hua showed remorse, paid the arrears, and violated the contract to use electricity fees, the court sentenced him to one year and four months in prison, suspended for one year and six months, and fined him 3,000 yuan.

(Qiu Fugen, Chen Wanke)

■Judge's opinion■

In recent years, the value of virtual currencies represented by Bitcoin has soared. Behind this "code of wealth" is the massive consumption of electricity resources. In addition, because Bitcoin is often used for illegal economic activities such as money laundering, my country's supervision of Bitcoin "mining" and transactions has gradually become stricter, and many places are comprehensively cleaning up and shutting down Bitcoin "mining" projects built under various names. In the face of interests, some people are willing to take risks and steal national electricity resources to reduce the cost of "mining". According to relevant regulations, electricity thieves not only need to bear the civil liability of paying back electricity bills and breaching electricity bills, but may also be held criminally liable by judicial authorities if they constitute a crime.