Paraguayan authorities have successfully dismantled an illicit bitcoin mining farm that was illicitly connected to the country’s power grid. The operation, conducted in the city of Saltos de Guaira near a national power facility, is being hailed as the largest of its kind.
Paraguay is cracking down on illegal mining activities that drain power from the country’s electric grid. On May 28, the Paraguayan National Power Administration (ANDE) and local prosecutors carried out an operation in Saltos de Guaira, where they discovered and shut down a massive bitcoin mining farm housing 2,738 bitcoin miners.
Although many of these machines had been disconnected, the farm had managed to bypass the connection to the electric meter, allowing it to draw energy without being detected by ANDE. In addition to confiscating the bitcoin miners, authorities seized five electric transformers with a total installed capacity of 7,150 kilo-volt-amperes.
The detection of this mining farm was made possible through the implementation of various techniques, including supervisory and control systems (SCADA) and artificial intelligence (AI) software, which monitored the load current peaks. Thermal drones were also employed to identify hot spots in the area, providing authorities with the necessary information to take action. Currently, the seized equipment is in the custody of a joint task force and will be transported to an ANDE facility for safekeeping.
The discovery of such an operation situated less than 2.5 kilometers away from a local power plant has raised suspicions of the potential involvement of ANDE officials. In response, the Paraguayan state company has initiated an internal audit process to investigate and take appropriate measures if any employees are found to be facilitating these illegal activities.
Last week, Paraguayan authorities uncovered illegal bitcoin mining operations in two separate locations, resulting in the seizure of over 550 bitcoin miners.
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