Police in Indiana recovered 1,000 Bitcoin mining machines stolen from a semi-trailer cargo hijacking in Grant County earlier this month, and in a rare development, they also thwarted the theft of $75,000 worth of frozen turkeys during the same investigation.
The mining devices, worth about $700,000, belonged to Your Choice Best Ever, a cryptocurrency mining company operating in the state. The company reported the theft on Oct. 2, but did not respond to a request for comment. decryption As to whether there is also a link to stolen poultry.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Monday. said Detectives tracked the stolen shipment to the Chicago area and coordinated the recovery of the mining rig last week. No arrests have been made yet, but the investigation involves “international criminal participants.”
Locals found humor in the strange combination of Bitcoin miners and frozen turkeys. Comments on social media range from puns about police “swallowing charges” to jokes about using ice-cold turkey to cool overheated servers.
Following a mining ban in China in 2021, mining operations expanded to regions such as the Midwest. At its peak, China dominated the Bitcoin mining industry, accounting for more than three-quarters of global activity, but the ban has scattered miners around the world and created new hubs in the United States and abroad. According to article Published earlier this year natureThe United States currently accounts for 38% of the world’s Bitcoin mining.
“Globally, today’s mining hotspots are Texas, parts of the Midwest, the Nordic region, the Caucasus, and increasingly Latin America,” said Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer at Komodo Platform. decryption. “Anywhere there is cheap, stable, often renewable electricity.”
The company that owns the stolen machines, Your Choice Best Ever, is typical of the trend of China-based miners moving overseas. The company previously operated blockchain mining facilities in China’s Sichuan, Xinjiang, and Yunnan provinces before the mining ban. Founded in 2014, the company’s website doesn’t appear to have been updated in years, but it currently claims to have mines in Indiana and Mississippi.
However, the rapid increase in mining operations has sparked debate in the communities where they operate. Opponents cite high energy consumption and noise pollution as major concerns, while supporters argue mining brings jobs, investment and tax revenue.
“Some concerns are completely valid,” Stadelman said. said before decryption. “The industry has not always been well-communicated about its energy mix and its impact on local communities.”
The key, he argued, is to stop operating in a vacuum and start delivering tangible benefits to local areas, such as jobs, tax revenue and support for building renewable energy. “The answer is not denial, but transparency and innovation,” he said.
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