- Bitcoin miner sentenced to 13 months for tampering with electricity wiring
- Bitcoin mining requires more electricity
Sanjay Singh has been sentenced to 13 months and two weeks in prison for electricity theft amounting to £32,000. Singh was caught diverting power for bitcoin mining from an industrial site and a nightclub shut down for the summer holidays. He pleaded guilty to two counts of electricity theft.
Andrew Baxter of the Crown Prosecution Service said, “The overwhelming majority of times we see offences of abstracting electricity, they are to support other criminal activities such as growing cannabis,” “Bitcoin mining is a legitimate legal enterprise. Sanjay Singh was simply acting out of greed.” Baxter added.
Bitcoin miners consume more electricity than regular residential consumers while verifying digital currency transactions. Singh was caught tampering with electrical wiring to run more than 200 devices.