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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 US$7,900 per unit. Based on the current price, this batch of Bitcoins is worth about US$79 million.
From being worthless to being 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 dared to break the law.
Recently, the China Judgments Online website 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 to run a Bitcoin mining machine for "mining", and made an illegal profit of RMB 6,500.
After investigation by the public security, the case has been solved. The first instance court of Kaiping District, Tangshan City, sentenced the defendant Chang Guifeng to four months' detention and a fine of RMB 10,000 for the crime of theft.
60-year-old woman stole 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to mine Bitcoin in
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 being arrested. 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 the crime 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, and stole electricity to operate four Bitcoin mining machines placed in the west room of the back building of the courtyard. Before the incident, some Bitcoins had been sold, making an illegal profit of RMB 6,500. According to the calculation of the 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 RMB 8,984.35.
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 the stolen electricity money of RMB 8,984.35.
In response to the above charges, the defendant Chang Guifeng had no objection to the charges of the public prosecution agency, 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 the crime of theft and sentenced to four months' detention and a fine of RMB 10,000.
2. The four Bitcoin mining machines, one voltage stabilizer, and one mobile phone seized by the public security organs from the defendant Chang Guifeng for stealing electricity shall be confiscated.
3. The defendant Chang Guifeng shall pay back the stolen electricity amount of RMB 8,984.35 to the Tangshan Power Supply Company of State Grid Jibei Electric Power Co., Ltd.; the illegal income of RMB 6,500 returned by the defendant Chang Guifeng shall be confiscated and turned over to the state treasury (already paid).
According to this verdict, in addition to the confiscation of illegal income of 6,500 yuan, Chang Guifeng was fined 10,000 yuan and refunded the electricity bill, which is equivalent to a loss of 18,984.35 yuan, and he ended up losing more than he gained.
Each Bitcoin consumes 38,800 kWh of electricity
"Mining" is the process of "mining" virtual currency , which is to "solve problems" by investing computing power through special "computing equipment", and a large amount of electricity is consumed in this process. In fact, on April 8 this year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued an announcement on soliciting public opinions on the "Guidelines for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2019 Edition, Draft for Comments)". The draft for comments clearly shows that virtual currency "mining" activities (the production process of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin ) are listed among the eliminated industries.
So, how much power does the Bitcoin network consume? How much does it cost to mine a Bitcoin? Regarding this, the media reporter 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 media reporter, "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 high. 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, it can be seen that 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. (Daily Economic News)
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