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Viral Video Shows Malaysian Police Destroying 1,069 Bitcoin Mining Rigs With a Steamroller (cnbc.com) 88

Posted by BeauHD from the literal-crackdown dept.
Malaysian authorities seized 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs, laid them out in a parking lot at police headquarters, and used a steamroller to crush them, as part of a joint operation between law enforcement in the city of Miri and electric utility Sarawak Energy. CNBC reports: Assistant Commissioner of Police Hakemal Hawari told CNBC the crackdown came after miners allegedly stole $2 million worth of electricity siphoned from Sarawak Energy power lines. A video of the event posted last week by local Sarawak news outlet Dayak Daily has since gone viral on social media.

Acting on a tip, authorities on the island of Borneo confiscated the rigs in six separate raids between February and April. In total, police destroyed about $1.26 million of mining equipment. Police opted to crush the mining gear rather than sell it, in accordance with a court order. Other countries, like China, have taken a different route, reportedly auctioning off seized rigs. Hawari said that electricity theft by bitcoin miners led to three houses burning down in the city. The Miri police chief told CNBC that there are no other active mining operations underway currently. The report notes that crypto mining is not illegal in Malaysia, although "there are stringent laws around power use."

"The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance estimates that Malaysia accounts for 3.44% of all the world's bitcoin miners, placing it in the top ten mining destinations on the planet."
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Viral Video Shows Malaysian Police Destroying 1,069 Bitcoin Mining Rigs With a Steamroller More

Viral Video Shows Malaysian Police Destroying 1,069 Bitcoin Mining Rigs With a Steamroller

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  • Logic (Score:5, Informative)

    by countach ( 534280 ) on Monday July 19, 2021 @05:41PM (#61599069)

    Logic would be to sell off the equipment to repay the stolen electricity, but hey.

    • Re:Logic (Score:4, Funny)

      by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) on Monday July 19, 2021 @05:50PM (#61599099) Journal

      Works for guns when compensating victims.

    • e.g. custom built hardware who's only use is mining bitcoin. Yes, in theory they could be repurposed, but it would be a lot of work and whatever you repurposed them for they would probably be bad at it.

      This is one of the major problems with BTC and Crypto. Mountains of custom hardware is being built for them and it's all going to end up in landfills polluting ground water.
      • People always take it out on the poor, properly functioning general-purpose (I'm assuming) hardware -- particularly monitors and keyboards [gfycat.com] -- when it's the software that's the culprit.

        If they were nVidia-based though, it's suspicious that this video made the rounds the day before their 4-for-1 split ... hmmm ....

        • It's a custom built SOC for a very specific purpose. I didn't see any monitors or keyboards in the vids I saw. Or even desktop cases. What I saw were "mining rigs", e.g. custom built hardware with custom CPUs that are more or less useless for anything but mining crypto.
          • Desktop mining outfits also dont use cases, monitors, or keyboards.

            Why are you so much of a neophyte?

            Open motherboard box.
            Place motherboard on top of motherboard box.
            Slot in ram.
            Slot in cpu. Mount the stock heatsink and fan that came with the cpu.
            Open the power supply box.
            Place power supply on top of power supply box.
            Connect the motherboard and cpu fan to the power supply.
            Open video card box.
            Slot in video card.
            Connect video card to power supply.
            Connect pre-imaged hard drive. Short pins X with

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

            It's a custom built SOC for a very specific purpose. I didn't see any monitors or keyboards in the vids I saw. Or even desktop cases. What I saw were "mining rigs", e.g. custom built hardware with custom CPUs that are more or less useless for anything but mining crypto.

            It's your standard BTC mining rig ASIC. They only do one thing and one thing only - calculate SHA hashes really quickly

            They look like an Antminer variant, but they all are starting to look like the same. They are a squarish box with a 120mm f

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by larwe ( 858929 )
        Sure, but the point would be to re-use them in a different mining operation, either as spare parts or expansion. I don't follow this particular tulip craze, but my understanding is that there are new generations of ASICs every year or so, meaning that this hardware is probably already obsolete. Energy cost per calculation is critical to profitability on these things.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Even if the ASICs were worthless I hope they removed the PSUs and other re-usable parts.

          • Unfortunately the only parts I see that could be repurposed without de-soldering would be the fans and the power supply. Even then the power supply would have to be re-manufactured to have standard ATX plugs.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        That has got nothing on the energy being pissed away on an insane belief. The pollution to serve capitalism as a religion totally insane. Humanity needs to take a real hard look at it's psychopathic self to see how truly insane imaginary currency mining is.

        • Humanity needs to take a real hard look at it's psychopathic self to see how truly insane imaginary currency mining is.

          All currency is imaginary. A $1 bill is just a piece of paper with green ink on it. The only reason it's worth $1 is because the government says it is. Currency and money in general is just a made-up concept that everyone just seems to accept

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by GlennC ( 96879 )

            A $1 bill is just a piece of paper with green ink on it. The only reason it's worth $1 is because the government says it is.

            But even if the bill was worthless, the paper could be used for other things.

            If a coin somehow lost value, the metal the coin is made of could be melted down and used to make other things.

            If a virtual currency loses value, there is nothing that can be used for other purposes.

            Therefore, virtual currency is less valuable than other currencies.

            • Ooook. If that is the logical fallacy you choose for today, a Bitcoin transaction is a public and immutable transaction. That has value in multitudes of applications.
          • Money is debt and debt is money. A dollar has value to everyone who owes the bank money.

    • It depends on the goal. If the goal is to help the victim then sure but if the goal is to intimidate would-be bitcoin miners then this works better.

    • Selling it moves the problem. Destroying it means that these specific devices cannot be used again. The only thing better would have had the people that bought the gear standing there, handcuffed, at parade rest, watching their shit get destroyed.

      • I think that's close to the logic being implemented by the Malaysians, and I don't pretend to understand them, but there's not too many places in the world you'd be worse off running afoul of the law.

        Malaysians still cane criminals and school children, and westerners that have run afoul of their especially severe drug laws are surprised by the severity of the punishments.

        "Malaysia's Dangerous Drugs Act of 1952 makes the death penalty mandatory for drug trafficking. Many of the persons on death row, however, have claimed they were coerced or manipulated into bringing small amounts of drugs into Malaysia."

        Oh, and you certainly wouldn't want to caught living an alternative lifestyle there, either.

        • living an alternative lifestyle

          I’ve always hated that term. Living off the grid, eating squirrels and wearing a tinfoil hat is an alternative lifestyle. Being lesbian, bi, or gay, is being lesbian, bi, or gay.

          Yeah, it’s pedantic, but I’m sure there’s some terminology misuse that grinds *your* gears too, such as calling records “vinyls”, or referring to the case of a PC as the “CPU”.

          And while I’m being pedantic over misused terminology, it’s not a fucking steamroller: it’

          • And while I’m being pedantic over misused terminology, it’s not a fucking steamroller: it’s called a “road roller”.

            ... or just a roller, does not have to be a road that it rolls.

            I was disappointed to follow the link and discover the bait and switch: no steam, no steam at all. Just another "diseasel".

        • I visited Singapore once while stationed in the Navy. Very expensive. Also very clean. When they are not caning people they fine them for chewing gum or littering. Secret police are everywhere. In fact its very similar to the depiction of the secret police in the cartoon Avatar, that worked in the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Tsing Se.

          • I get that there are advantages and disadvantages to every type of government. I do. During a pandemic when you need to get the populace to respect the scientifically best outcome (much like keeping the streets free of litter), a totalitarian regime that manages its citizens by the edict of fear creates better results than the democracy or republic that at least pretends to entertain the idea everyone's vote, and thus opinion, matter.

            Affording everyone the cloak of competency by allowing a universal vote is

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cciRRus ( 889392 )
            As a Singaporean, I'm surprised at the existence of secret police. There are definitely police cameras everywhere, but not police officers, in plain clothes or uniforms. If read the news, it takes a while for enforcement officers to arrive, and sometimes offenders do escape first.

            I wonder how, a foreigner, is able to identify a secret police especially when their identities are supposed to be secret.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by e3m4n ( 947977 )
              I was there long before cameras and CCTV. But as far as knowing about secret police, the NCIST gives everyone a heads up as to what to expect in every port before we even tie up. We sometimes even have local plain clothed law enforcement come on and give us information as well. Thats how we found out about the fines for minor infractions and even caning. I think you guys referred to them as the ISD. They said they had eyes everywhere and you never knew who was undercover and who wasnt. Again this was in the

    • Logic would say donâ(TM)t spend $1m on used miners. Logic would also state if you need to buy used rigs you might not be able to pay for the electricity costs in the long run.

      • Logic would also state if you need to buy used rigs you might not be able to pay for the electricity costs in the long run.

        Mine, sell, pay for electricity, keep profits.

        I would also think that getting the same hardware cheaper is a good idea to increase profits.

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday July 19, 2021 @06:30PM (#61599211)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Logic would be to sell off the equipment to repay the stolen electricity, but hey.

      That would be logical, but maybe the plan was to buy Bitcoin, publicly destroy a bunch of mining rigs and hope Bitcoin went up as a result?

      I mean, since they were bad at logic it follows they might be equally bad at math and finance.

  • We have had internal combustion engines for over 100 years now. How come we don't have a better more modern word for SteamRoller?

    • Re:a What roller? (Score:4, Funny)

      by PPH ( 736903 ) on Monday July 19, 2021 @06:11PM (#61599157)

      Squash them with a nuclear roller.

    • Re: a What roller? (Score:4, Funny)

      by e3m4n ( 947977 ) on Monday July 19, 2021 @06:11PM (#61599159)
      Nope. Its now a metaphor and an idiom all rolled into one.

    • Re:a What roller? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Monday July 19, 2021 @06:12PM (#61599161)

      We have had internal combustion engines for over 100 years now. How come we don't have a better more modern word for SteamRoller?

      For the exact same reason that the save icon is still a floppy disk.

    • You prompted me to look it up. Apparently they are called rollers, drum rollers, or asphalt rollers. Or even vibrating double drum rollers.

      Steam roller still leaves no doubt about what they mean.

      • Steam is hard to roll. :-p

      • The type of roller pictured in TFA is called a grade roller by those in the construction industry (in the NW part of the US, anyway). A grade roller usually has a smooth drum, but it can have a sheep's foot drum instead. A grade roller has two rubber tires in the back, and the drum can vibrate by spinning an eccentric weight within the drum. There are often different frequencies and force that can be used, or it can be used without vibration (when finish-rolling the grade to avoid disturbing the surface of

    • "dial a number" on your button handset or smart phone and complain, or use one of the two kinds of personal computers, Mac or "PC", while eating from a "tin can" made of steel and watching a youtube "channel"

    • I think there was a time when the roller drum was heated by steam, to keep the asphalt hot patch material soft while it was compacted in the repair. A well-done hot patch is a lovely thing. A compressed cold patch begins to fail almost immediately but they're cheap and quick for the city and buy some time while waiting for the hot patching that never comes. That's why there's so many potholes; municipalities are broke.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by thomn8r ( 635504 )
      "Steam" doesn't refer to the method of propulsion, but rather the heating of the roller to melt and consolidate the surface.

      • "Steam" doesn't refer to the method of propulsion, but rather the heating of the roller to melt and consolidate the surface.

        If you're talking about modern asphalt rollers, you see steam because small amounts of water spray onto the drums from a water tank on the roller. The water keeps hot mix asphalt from sticking to the drum. Steam is visible because most of the water that contacts the hot asphalt "mat" is relatively quickly converted into steam by the heat of the hot mix. Asphalt rollers do not have heated drums. The surface of hot mix asphalt is not melted by the roller. The roller compacts. The roller does not melt.

  • Nah (Score:3)

    by Artem S. Tashkinov ( 764309 ) on Monday July 19, 2021 @06:08PM (#61599145) Homepage
    Even if they outlawed mining for some reasons, they could have sold this equipment outside the country and donate the money to charity. Looks like these are Ant miners which cost from $4K a piece which means they've destroyed $4 million of value. And I'm not sure all this elecronic waste will be reused in any shape or form, more like buried somewhere to take hundreds if not thousands of years to degrade.

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Bert64 ( 520050 )

        Heroin is illegal almost everywhere, bitcoin mining is not.
        People waste power on all kinds of things.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Bert64 ( 520050 )

            Are you aware of any country where drugs such as heroin are legal?

            Bitcoin mining is also not illegal in malaysia and neither is possession of bitcoin mining equipment, the crime these people committed was stealing electricity so your analogy doesn't really fit.
            A closer one would be the DEA selling cars that were seized from drug dealers.

      • Sure, you could sell them to people in another country, but that's a little like the DEA doing a drug bust and then selling all the Heroin to someone in Britain, to recover the street value of the drugs.

        So, more like the CIA than the DEA then?

        (Or like police officers, who have been caught stealing and selling "evidence" again and again)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by iggymanz ( 596061 )

      No, police don't have time and resources to play mom & pop ebay shop. Those rigs have no other purpose than to waste resources for a gambling token anyway. Why move the disease somewhere else.

  • At least the police used a HAMM brand steamroller!

  • bleh, move on, it wasn't an even 1024 of them (Score:3)

    by GLowder ( 622780 ) on Monday July 19, 2021 @08:16PM (#61599393)
    My OCD'ness would have been somewhat more appeased if it had been an even 1024 of them.

  • My RTX 3090s!

  • If bitcion mining is so profitable, why are people stealing electricity to do it?

    • If bitcion mining is so profitable, why are people stealing electricity to do it?

      Mining is profitable.

      Mining without paying bills is even more profitable.

      Mining fucks over everyone else, so miners have already proven they're willing to fuck everyone else over. Why should you be surprised that they're willing to steal services in the process?

  • I wander ... (Score:3)

    by John Cavendish ( 6659408 ) on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @11:43AM (#61601287)

    ... how many supercomputers Malaysian Universities have - I guess too many, that they destroy this hardware.

  • No wonder it's such an impoverished place.

    Move to somewhere that doesn't resent you from doing innocent stuff like this.

  • Whatever else you say, I have to give them mad style points for using the steamroller! Brought out a chuckle!

  • I know there's a lot of controversy about bitcoin and everything sorrounding it, but I believe that in a few years it's going to be the most common way of payment! Luckily I got a bitcoin wallet software to help me, just search for BitcoinHarvestltd's website [bitcoinharvestltd.com]. Those wallets make sending and receiving Bitcoins easier, check them out if you are interested in keeping your bitcoin safe!

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