Paraguayan Authorities Shut Down 2,700 Miners in Largest Anti-Illegal Bitcoin Mining Intervention to Date

Paraguayan authorities detected and shut down an illegal bitcoin mining farm that had over 2,700 miners connected directly to the country’s power grid. The operation, carried out in the city of Saltos de Guaira and situated near a national power facility, was deemed by authorities as the largest operation of its kind.

Paraguayan Authorities Bust Illegal Bitcoin Mining Farm, Pull the Plug on Over 2,700 Miners

Paraguay continues to crack down on illegal mining activities that siphon power from the country’s electric grid. In an operation executed in Saltos de Guaira on May 28, the Paraguayan National Power Administration (ANDE) and local prosecutors detected and pulled the plug on a giant bitcoin mining farm hosting 2,738 bitcoin miners.

While many of these machines were disconnected, the farm had bypassed the connection to the electric meter, obtaining the energy for the operation without being accounted by ANDE. In addition to the bitcoin miners, authorities confiscated five electric transformers with a total installed capacity of 7,150 kilo-volt-amperes.

The detection of this farm was possible due to the implementation of several techniques, including supervisory and control systems (SCADA) and artificial intelligence (AI) software to monitor the load current peaks.

This process was complemented with thermal drones, which found hot spots in the area, giving authorities the means to act. The equipment is currently under the custody of a joint task force, that will transport the equipment to an ANDE facility for its safekeeping.

The detection of this kind of operation located less than 2.5 kilometers from a local power plant has prompted suspicions of the direct involvement of ANDE officials in its setup. In a press release, the Paraguayan state company reported an internal auditing process to detect if this is the case and take action if employees are facilitating these operations.

Last week, Paraguayan authorities detected illegal bitcoin mining operations in two different sites, leading to the seizure of over 550 bitcoin miners.