The Bitcoin mining farm incident ferments. How to criminalize the private connection of power lines and theft of electricity?

Xiao Sa Ma Jinwei

Recently, a piece of news has attracted widespread attention in society. According to reports, the police have seized several "Bitcoin mining sites" that were illegally connected to power lines in the local oil field mining area. As of press time, the police have seized about 1,600 Bitcoin "mining machines", 7 transformers, 7 network switches, 2 computers, and criminally detained 4 suspects.

As soon as the news came out, many onlookers had questions, such as "What is a mining farm?", "What is mining for? Why do we need to connect circuits?", "Is this illegal?" To answer the above questions, the author intends to conduct a legal analysis of the content of the news and try to explain the legal relationship involved.

Bitcoin mining

"Mining" does not mean that you have to carry a hammer down to the mine to collect Bitcoin. As we all know, Bitcoin depends on the blockchain network to exist and can only be generated through special algorithms on computers. In other words, to obtain Bitcoin, in addition to relying on transactions, it can only be obtained by computers running algorithms. This calculation process is called "Bitcoin mining."

Therefore, the "Bitcoin mining farm" mentioned in the above press release is actually a computer room with a large number of high-computing computers (Bitcoin mining machines) that continuously operate on the network to obtain Bitcoin. The operation of high-computing computers means high energy consumption, which naturally brings high costs to the "mining farm". It is precisely in order to reduce costs and obtain higher profits that the above news reports of "Bitcoin mining farms" privately connecting to power lines appear.

"Stealing electricity" is also "stealing"

From a legal perspective, I believe that such behavior may be punished for violating special laws in my country. If the consequences of the behavior are serious and may constitute a crime, they will be convicted and sentenced for suspected theft.

Article 71 of my country's Electricity Law clearly stipulates that those who steal electricity shall be ordered by the power management department to stop the illegal behavior, recover the electricity charges and impose a fine of no more than five times the electricity charges payable; if it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Therefore, the first thing that should be considered for the above-mentioned "Bitcoin mining farms" to privately connect to power lines is to regulate them according to the Electricity Law, that is, the local power department should order them to stop, recover the electricity bills, and impose fines. However, if such private connection to power lines has caused more serious consequences and exceeds the scope of social relations that can be regulated by the Electricity Law, then the Criminal Law should be considered to play a protective role in regulation.

Although in the eyes of the general public, the act of stealing electricity is different from common theft, according to the judicial interpretation provisions of our country, electricity is indeed the object of the crime of theft, that is, "stealing electricity" is the same as stealing money, and is also theft of public or private property, and may also be sentenced for theft.

Article 4 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Theft provides: (3) In the case of theft of electricity, gas, tap water and other valuables, if the amount stolen can be verified, the amount of theft shall be calculated according to the verified amount; if the amount stolen cannot be verified, the amount of theft shall be estimated by deducting the average monthly normal usage in the six months before the theft from the average monthly usage shown on the meter after the theft; if the normal usage before the theft is less than six months, the amount of theft shall be estimated by deducting the average monthly usage during the normal use period from the average monthly usage shown on the meter after the theft.

From the provisions of the judicial interpretation, we can see that atypical property such as electricity, gas, and tap water are also included in the theft regulations. If the theft of electricity causes serious consequences, it is natural to fall into the criminal net. The key question is, for the same act of stealing electricity, when should it be punished by the Electricity Law and when should it be regulated by the Criminal Law?

Article 71 of the Electricity Law stipulates that if theft of electricity constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law. The crime here refers to theft. In other words, once the theft of electricity meets the criminal standard for theft in the Criminal Law, it should be convicted and sentenced in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 264 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of my country: The crime of theft refers to theft of public or private property in large amounts, or repeated thefts, burglary, theft with a weapon, or pickpocketing. The offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall be fined or fined alone; if the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall be fined; if the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment and shall be fined or have his property confiscated.

Article 1 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Theft: Article 1 Theft of public or private property with a value of more than 1,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan, more than 30,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan, and more than 300,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan shall be respectively determined as "a relatively large amount", "a huge amount", or "an extremely huge amount" as provided for in Article 264 of the Criminal Law. The High People's Court and the People's Procuratorate of each province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government may, based on the economic development of the region and taking into account the social security situation, determine the specific amount standard to be implemented in the region within the amount range provided for in the preceding paragraph and report it to the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate for approval.

Combining the above provisions of the Criminal Law and judicial interpretation, it can be seen that when the total value of stolen electricity is between 1,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan, it is possible to meet the "large amount" stipulated in the Criminal Law and be convicted and sentenced. As for which specific amount between 1,000 and 3,000 yuan to use as the standard, it is up to the local judicial authorities to determine it based on the local social conditions.