The homemade workshop has consumed almost 33,000 kWh for the illegal purpose, which is essentially a sufficient amount to mine a couple of bitcoins. However experts said using a smartphone in the venture seems to be a bad choice, given its minor computing powers, which would perhaps be enough to mint less power-consuming altcoins.
The latest #Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index is 63.3 TWh per Year/5.86 Mil US households (+0.30%) https://t.co/3rbPhSikdD
— Digiconomist (@DigiEconomist) 28 апреля 2018 г.
852 KWh per unique transaction (powers 1 US household for 28+ days) #MakeBitcoinSustainable pic.twitter.com/2604r98jcB
The improvised facility was found by workers from the Meizhou municipal branch of the China Southern Power Grid Company, as they were performing a regular check-up. What raised their suspicions was a number of strangely connected power cables, which ran over a back street to the upper floor of a block of flats.
Unlike initial coin offerings and digital coins exchanges, cryptocurrency mining is legal in China. Some of the world’s largest mining facilities are concentrated in power-rich regions and areas that boast cooler climates. According to many estimates, up to 80% of the global bitcoin mining capacity currently resides in China.
