A Tomsk resident had set up a virtual currency mining farm in his flat and presumably created a short circuit, which resulted in a fire, the portal vtomske reported, citing a source in the Tomsk regional office of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
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"A fire has broken out in the one-room flat of a ten-story panel house on Dizaynerov Street. There was no one in the apartment at the time, so there are no casualties," the source noted.
Mining is a technology that exploits computer power, including graphics cards, to obtain cryptocurrencies. The technology is said to exert increased pressure on electrical grids while considerably heating up air in the premises where the equipment is installed.
Earlier in November, another miner’s flat burned down in the city of Novorossiysk, in Russia’s south. Increased power pressure then led to the electric wires overheating and starting a fire.