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Since its birth in 2009, Bitcoin has been full of stories. In 2010, a programmer used 10,000 Bitcoins to buy two pizzas (worth $25), which was the earliest documented Bitcoin transaction. According to this transaction, one Bitcoin is worth only 0.0025 cents.
According to the cryptocurrency website coinmarketcap.com, the current price of Bitcoin is about $7,900. Based on the current price, this batch of Bitcoin is worth about $79 million. From worthless to worth tens of thousands of dollars, the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed 3.16 million times (7900/0.0025). In particular, on December 19, 2017, the price of Bitcoin hit a high of nearly $20,000. With the booming market since 2017, the hot market has attracted various "gold diggers". Some even dare to break the law.
Recently, the China Judgment Documents Network published such a case. A Tangshan woman surnamed Chang, born in 1958, stole 17,277.6 kWh of electricity from January 11 to October 2, 2018, in order to run a Bitcoin mining machine for "mining", and made an illegal profit of 6,500 yuan. After investigation by the public security, the case has been solved. The first instance of the People's Court of Kaiping District, Tangshan City, sentenced the defendant Chang Guifeng to four months' detention for the crime of theft and fined her 10,000 yuan.
10,000 kWh of electricity stolen in 10 months
Recently, the Kaiping District People's Court of Tangshan City, Hebei Province made public a "First-instance Criminal Judgment on Chang Guifeng's Theft Crime."
The verdict shows that the defendant Chang Guifeng, female, was born on October 28, 1958, of Han nationality, born in Tangshan City, with junior high school education, unemployed, and lived in Tangshan City before her arrest. She was detained by the Kaiping Branch of the Tangshan Public Security Bureau on October 2, 2018 for suspected theft, and was arrested on October 15 of the same year with the approval of the People's Procuratorate of Kaiping District, Tangshan City, and was arrested by the Kaiping Branch of the Tangshan Public Security Bureau on the same day. The People's Procuratorate of Kaiping District, Tangshan City, accused the defendant Chang Guifeng of theft and filed a public prosecution with the People's Court of Kaiping District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province on January 2, 2019. The People's Procuratorate of Kaiping District, Tangshan City, accused the defendant Chang Guifeng of stealing national power resources by privately connecting lines in the courtyard of Chang Bingwu (Chang Guifeng's father, deceased) at No. 43, Dongxinzhuang, Shangcun, Kaiping District, Tangshan City, from January 11 to October 2, 2018. He stole electricity to operate four Bitcoin mining machines placed in the west room of the courtyard. He had sold some Bitcoins before the incident and made an illegal profit of 6,500 yuan. According to the calculation of Tangshan Power Supply Company of State Grid Jibei Electric Power Co., Ltd., Chang Guifeng stole 17,277.6 kWh of electricity (1 kWh is 1,000 Wh), which was appraised to be worth 8,984.35 yuan.
The defendant Chang Guifeng was summoned by the public security organ on October 2, 2018, and truthfully confessed the above criminal facts. On December 26 of the same year, he returned 8,984.35 yuan of stolen electricity. In response to the above charges, the defendant Chang Guifeng had no objection to the prosecution's charges, and expressed his willingness to return the illegal gains and plead guilty in court.
The People's Court of Kaiping District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province believes that the criminal facts and charges alleged by the public prosecution agency are established. The relatives of the defendant Chang Guifeng actively repaid the economic losses and illegal gains, and showed remorse for the crime, so they can be given a lighter punishment at the discretion of the court. After being summoned orally, the defendant Chang Guifeng truthfully confessed the facts of the crime. He has a confession and can be given a lighter punishment according to law. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the judgment is as follows:
1. The defendant Chang Guifeng was convicted of theft and sentenced to four months of detention and a fine of 10,000 yuan. 2. The four Bitcoin mining machines, one voltage stabilizer, and one mobile phone seized by the public security organs for the theft of electricity by the defendant Chang Guifeng were confiscated. 3. The defendant Chang Guifeng returned 8,984.35 yuan of stolen electricity to the Tangshan Power Supply Company of State Grid Jibei Electric Power Co., Ltd.; the illegal income of 6,500 yuan returned by the defendant Chang Guifeng was confiscated and turned over to the state treasury (already paid). According to this judgment, in addition to the confiscation of the illegal income of 6,500 yuan, a fine of 10,000 yuan + refund of electricity bills, Chang Guifeng is equivalent to a loss of 18,984.35 yuan, stealing chickens and losing rice.
A single Bitcoin consumes nearly 40,000 kWh of electricity
"Mining" is the process of "mining" virtual currency . It is done by investing computing power through dedicated "computing equipment" to "solve problems". A large amount of electricity is consumed in this process.
So, how much power does the Bitcoin network consume? How much does it cost to mine a Bitcoin? In this regard, the reporter of the Daily Economic News interviewed Pu Songtao, the person in charge of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology Development and CCID Global Public Chain Technology Assessment. Pu Songtao told the reporter of the Daily Economic News: "Because Bitcoin is based on proof of work, it is related to computing power. To have computing power, you have to consume electricity, so its power consumption is very large. It is precisely because of such a large power consumption that the safe and stable operation of the Bitcoin system can be guaranteed." "According to data from the btc.com website, as of now, the computing power of the entire Bitcoin network is about 51.65 EH/s. In layman's terms, this is equivalent to 1.84 million Bitmain S15 (computing power 28T, power 1596W) mining machines in operation, consuming about 69.92 million kWh of electricity a day. Divided by the current daily Bitcoin output of 1,800 coins, excluding other costs, each Bitcoin consumes 38,800 kWh of electricity."
From this point of view, although the current price of Bitcoin is expensive, the cryptocurrency market website coinmarketcap.com shows that the current unit price is about US$7,900, but the cost of mining a Bitcoin is not low at all. (Economic Daily Economic Finance) |
