An IT company in Armenia has been accused of illegally accessing electricity and using it to mine cryptocurrencies.

$150,000 in power

On Sept. 21, in an announcement from the Armenian National Security Service, the organization accused an IT company of illegally mining cryptocurrencies from inside a hydropower plant.

The state agency reported that the IT company had installed cryptocurrency mining equipment inside one of the hydropower plants operating in Armenia and as a result illegally consumed 1.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity — worth more than $150,000, locally — over the course of 1.5 years.

Illegal crypto mining in China

Cointelegraph reported in September that regulators in the autonomous Chinese province of Inner Mongolia issued a notice demanding a clean-up of the province’s crypto mining enterprises.

Several departments within Inner Mongolia determined the need to rectify the mining industry within the province. The organizations named were the Development and Reform Commission, the Public Security Department, the Office of the Ministry of Industry, The Financial Office and the Big Data Bureau.

As of the end of May, China was reportedly responsible for 70% of global BTC mining. At the time, reports emerged that Chinese regulators were investigating illegal mining operations in Sichuan — a province responsible for 70% of China’s Bitcoin (BTC) mining thanks to the electricity generation of the Dadu River Basin.