Anhui Bitcoin miner arrested for using stolen electricity despite knowing it was stolen

In recent years, as the price of virtual currency continues to rise, some people who dream of getting rich overnight have begun to think about new ways to make money. However, virtual currency mining machines consume a lot of electricity, so some "miners" have started to steal electricity. Recently, the Datong District People's Court of Huainan City publicly sentenced such a case of stealing national electricity resources to obtain Bitcoin and Litecoin. The defendant Xu Mouhui was convicted of theft and sentenced to five years and six months in prison and a fine of RMB 30,000. The defendants Xu and Chen were convicted of concealing and concealing the proceeds of crime and were sentenced to seven months in prison and four months of detention (suspended for six months) respectively, and fined RMB 5,000.

It is understood that Bitcoin is actually a special solution generated by a large number of complex algorithms. A special solution refers to a group of infinite solutions obtained by a set of equations. In layman's terms, it is equivalent to the serial number of RMB. As long as you know this serial number, you own this RMB. Mining refers to the process of calculating Bitcoin with a computer. The mining process is to continuously seek special solutions to this set of equations through huge amounts of calculations. The mining machine for mining Bitcoin is actually the computer equipment in our lives. However, due to the special conditions for the generation of Bitcoin, most of them are equipped with professional mining chips, which work by burning graphics cards, and consume a lot of power. Litecoin and Bitcoin have the same implementation principle in technology. Therefore, it is required that the environment where the mining machine is located has good ventilation and heat dissipation, and sufficient power resources.

In order to save costs and obtain sufficient power supply, since February 2018, the defendant Xu Mouhui rented a site in the courtyard of Huainan Fuqiang Commercial Concrete Co., Ltd. from Jiang Moumou through Chen Moujia (pseudonym). Chen Moujia told Xu Mouhui that the rent for half a year was 10,000 yuan, and agreed that each of them would pay 5,000 yuan. Xu Mouhui transferred 4,000 yuan to Chen Moujia via WeChat for rent. At the end of May of the same year, Xu Mouhui asked workers to build a shed on the east side of the site, used cables to privately connect the high-voltage power supply line that had been disconnected, and arbitrarily used the transformer connection that had been closed and shut down by the power supply company. By recruiting the "mine owner" defendants Xu Mou, Chen Mou and others, a total of 260 "mining machines" for mining virtual currencies were placed in the shed from June 1 of the same year, stealing electricity for the "mining machines" of the "mine owner" and collecting more than 20,000 yuan in electricity bills from Xu Mou and others. In early September of the same year, the defendant Xu Mouhui and Hu Moumou agreed on an electricity fee of 0.3 yuan per kWh, and then built a new shed on the west side of the site. Hu Moumou placed 234 "mining machines" in the site, of which 40 "mining machines" were debugged and powered on on September 9, and the remaining 194 were not powered on yet. According to calculations by the Huainan Power Supply Company of the State Grid Anhui Electric Power Co., Ltd., the defendant Xu Mouhui stole a total of 339,074.4 kWh of electricity, with a total value of 228,603.96 yuan.

The defendant Xu, knowing full well that the electricity used by Xu Mouhui was stolen, still placed 40 "mining machines" there from June 2018. The number was reduced to 22 at the end of July, and to 16 in mid-August. Each mining machine had a power of 1,050 watts, using a total of 42,480 kWh of electricity, valued at 28,640 yuan. He paid Xu Mouhui 22,000 yuan through WeChat and Alipay transfers.

The defendant Chen was introduced by Xu to place a "mining machine" at Xu's site to mine virtual currency. Knowing that the electricity here was stolen, he continued to place 25 "mining machines" there from June 30, 2018. Each machine had a power of 1,050 watts, and a total of 35,000 kWh of electricity was used, worth 23,597 yuan. He and Xu agreed that Xu Qiang would charge 0.4 yuan per kWh, and he prepaid Xu Qiang 25,000 yuan in electricity fees in three installments through WeChat transfer.

The court held that the defendant Xu Mouhui secretly stole electricity from a state-owned company for the purpose of illegal possession, with a total value of 228,603.96 yuan, a huge amount, and his behavior constituted theft; the defendants Xu and Chen knew that the electricity was stolen by others and used it, with the value of the electricity used being 38,640 yuan and 23,597 yuan respectively, and their actions constituted the crime of concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime, so the above judgment was made. (Chen Huijun, Anhui Business Daily Integrated Media Reporter Zhang Jian)