coindesk.com
A crypto miner in the U.K. county of Leicestershire has been jailed for 13 months for stealing £32,000 ($44,000) of electricity to operate bitcoin mining machines.
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Sanjay Singh, 40, pleaded guilty to bypassing electrical mains to power machines at two sites, local news outlet Leicester Mercury reported Thursday.
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An inspection showed that Singh had manipulated the wiring to abstract electricity to an unmetered fuse box to run more than 200 devices.
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Such a method is not an uncommon criminal activity, but is more frequently carried out to support criminal activities such as growing cannabis, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) noted.
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“This is a highly unusual case,” Andrew Baxter of the CPS said. “Bitcoin mining is a legitimate legal enterprise.”
Read more: UK Police Raid Suspected Cannabis Factory, Find Bitcoin Mining Operation
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