Massive cryptomining rig discovered under Polish court’s floor, stealing power - eviltoast
  • bulwark@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I was going to ask if these things are even profitable anymore, but I guess if you’re stealing the electricity it is.

    • Sibbo@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Yeah but if their hardware is now confiscated, does it still pay off? How long do you need to mine until the hardware is paid for, assuming free electricity?

    • SuckMyWang@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Also this is the part of the cycle where news about mining rigs catching fire and stealing power start creeping into the mainstream again. The price goes up, more people mine, more people do illegal shit to mine, mining equipment sells out, people get pissed and start whinging about graphics cards or some shit because crypto crypto blah blah so annoying and that gets in the news too. Then after no talk about any of this stuff for the last 2 years concern about bitcoins power usage starts making it back to the mainstream even though not much has changed except the price. This kicks off the feedback loop and the talk of the halving of rewards does the rounds and a new wave of investors are pulled in. Alt coins follow and people get rich, then the story’s of someone you know getting rich go around and people think, this is bullshit, I want to get rich and they get fomo and throw in their money and the run is in full swing. Elon makes his play and reveals his purpose for buying twitter is to use bitcoin and dogcoin as payment. Hysteria ensues and all fundamentals, ethics and common sense go out the window. Then when it feels like the craziness is normal the billionaires sell up and the crash begins. New comers are rattled and pull out straight away only to watch it go up again and to put their money back in and get wrecked again. Digital gold, utility, financial instrument, hedge against inflation and the money printer blah blah rinse repeat. Bitcoin is going to zero even though it’s literally gone on average from $1 to 50000 in 12 years or what ever, but yes it’s really risky somehow. It’s also dumb as shit but so is everything these days. People don’t give a shit what it is as long as they’re getting rich and people love talking about making money, not losing it. So when price goes up you hear about it whether you want to or not

  • Gork@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    At least they had heated floors for a little while. Fancy.

    • June@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I suddenly want to build a crypto mining rig in my encapsulated crawl space.

    • 0110010001100010@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Per Wikipedia:

      As of 2022, bitcoin mining is estimated to be responsible for 0.1% of world greenhouse gas emissions.

      Their source: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2022/a-deep-dive-into-bitcoins-environmental-impact/

      That’s just bitcoin, I don’t know how that translates into all cryptos.

      Now that’s still a decent chunk but not really a blip on the breakdown chart: https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector

      For example, landfills generate almost 2%.

      • OrteilGenou@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Wow imagine two different kinds of garbage having such a different impact on the climate

        • columbus@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          At least crypto is allowing people send money without relying on paypal or other big tech.

          • ilmagico@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Crypto was invented as a fully decentralized form of keeping and spending money, not as an “investment” (really, gambling) instrument as it is used now, so I fully agree crypto isn’t evil, it’s how it’s currently used that’s a problem. Proof-of-work though is evil, due to its energy requirements. Thankfully some coins (e.g. ethereum) are switching to proof-of-stake which doesn’t waste energy for nothing.

            • columbus@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Proof of stake is making the crypto centralized by the stake holders, also the ethereum blockchain size is huge compared to Bitcoin, making it even more centralized because less people are willing to volunteer except the stake holders.

          • SuckMyWang@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Hey did you notice how people only give a shit about bitcoins emissions when the price goes up? Funny that

          • Traister101@lemmy.today
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            1 year ago

            Or alternatively in actual first world countries you can just send money to people through your bank, for free. Hell in some third world countries they fuckn text their money around.

            • ilmagico@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Until the banks (or the government, or someone more powerful than you) decides you shall not use your money and those funds get blocked. Or maybe you don’t want to tell your bank, or the government, what you do with your money. Yes, there’s cash, but it’s going away. And please don’t tell me “you have nothing to hide, so nothing to worry”, there’s plenty of legitimate reasons for privacy.

              If people stopped thinking about crypto as “EaZZy MoNey” and instead, just treated it for what it was meant for, as a currency, it could actually be useful. But please let’s get rid of proof-of-work and energy waste.

            • thenightisdark@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yeah use those "to big to fail’ having banks be integral to the system is a definition to first World. Not sure that’s the dis you hoped it to be. Haha, you don’t have banks too big to be capitalist they have to be socialized…

              Zelle (/zɛl/) is a United States–based digital payments network run by a private financial services company owned by the banks Bank of America, Truist, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.

    • ilmagico@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      A lot, but the solution exists, and it doesn’t require getting rid of crypto coins, it’s called proof-of-stake. Then maybe people can stop building stupid mining rigs …

  • repungnant_canary@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s not any court. It’s a Supreme Administrative Court - highest court instance in Poland dealing with crimes of administration

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    It’s currently unknown how long the rig was running because the illegal operation went undetected, partly because the computers used were connected to the Internet through their own modems rather than through the court’s network.

    The Supreme Administrative Court is the last resort for sensitive business and tax disputes, but no records seem to have been compromised.

    Judge Sylwester Marciniak—the chairman of the Judicial Information Department of the Supreme Administrative Court—told TVN24 that the discovery of the cryptomine “did not result in any threat to the security of data stored” in the court.

    The Department of Homeland Security investigated for three months, and a former employee who had been serving as assistant facilities director for the town, Nadeam Nahas, was accused of vandalizing the school and stealing at least $17,492 in electricity to operate the cryptomine.

    According to Boston news station WHDH, police traced SKU numbers on ductwork that Nahas allegedly installed to keep the rig from overheating.

    Nahas reportedly got “nervous” when confronted with evidence allegedly showing that he purchased the materials from Home Depot, as well as his posts on the social platform formerly known as Twitter, which cops found indicated his strong interest in cryptocurrency.


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