Paraguay Seizes 271 Bitcoin Miners in Power Theft Crackdown

ANDE, Paraguay’s National Electricity Administration, has seized 271 bitcoin miners in yet another crackdown on operations that allegedly stole electricity to mine bitcoin.

The government agency said in an announcement on Wednesday that its technical staff first detected irregular fluctuation in electrical demand in an establishment near Yvaroty in the city of La Colmena. Further investigation found out an unmetered connection in medium voltage, which triggered alarms on a possible electricity theft.

After receiving a search warrant issued by a judge, the agency conducted the raid this week, confiscating 271 bitcoin miners and two distribution transformers at the alleged premise.

ANDE said the premise had an installed power of 3,195 kilovolt-amps (kVA) and is estimated to have cost a monthly power damage of nearly $120,000.

The crackdown came just weeks after multiple raids in May where ANDE seized over 3,000 bitcoin miners as Paraguay stepped up efforts to uncover power theft for bitcoin mining activities.