Thailand Raids House Running Illegal Bitcoin Mining Operation That Triggered Power Outages

The Thai government classifies Bitcoin mining as a manufacturing operation. This means that miners in the country must pay the required tax.

Thai authorities have raided a house that was being used by a company to carry out Bitcoin mining operations, an activity that is said to have caused frequent power outages in the neighborhood for over a month.

The incident was reported by the South China Morning Post, which noted that illegal Bitcoin mining operations have been a problem in the country. Bitcoin mining, which involves adding transactions to the blockchain, is carried out by miners who use specialized machines and equipment.

In exchange for adding a block of transactions to the chain, miners receive a reward in BTC. However, the process is known to be energy-intensive, with the machines used for the operation consuming large amounts of electricity and expelling heat.

In Thailand, Bitcoin mining is classified by the government as a manufacturing operation, which means that miners in the country are expected to pay the required tax.

The house where the Bitcoin mining operations were taking place was raided by a team of police and officials from the Provincial Electricity Authorities (PEA), led by Jamnong Chanwong, a chief district security officer.

Initially, a guard at the house attempted to stop the law authorities from gaining access. However, the squad returned with a search warrant and carried out the raid, only to find that most of the mining rigs had already been moved.

According to investigations, an unnamed company had rented the house for about four months. However, the power outages began in July when the mining equipment was fully installed.

Highlighting how the company managed to avoid paying the necessary taxation, Chanwong said:

“We found Bitcoin mining rigs, pointing to people using this house to operate a mine and using power they didn’t fully pay for.”

Chanwong also noted that no individual was arrested during the raid.

This is not the first time that Thai law enforcement authorities have detected illegal Bitcoin mining operations in the country. According to the SCMP report, this was the fourth time that such a raid had occurred in the same vicinity.

Meanwhile, other countries have also cracked down on Bitcoin mining operations. Earlier this week, CryptoPotato reported that the Malaysian law authorities had arrested and charged several individuals linked to illegal Bitcoin mining activities in the country.

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