They clearly weren’t playing the expanded Free Trial of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.
Recently, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) raided a warehouse that was allegedly stealing electricity for the purposes of cryptocurrency mining. And upon entry, they found numerous devices being used for mining, well over 5,000. But notably among them were ~3800 PS4 units, many of which were seemingly PS4 Pro models.
Place probably sounded like a goddamn jet engine.
Anyway, the SBU stated that it seized thousands of gaming machines, many of which were Sony’s last-gen box, from the warehouse, which just so happened to be located right next to the Vinnytsiaoblenergo energy distribution company in the city of Vinnytsia. The mining operation stands accused of siphoning off $256,648 worth of electricity from the rid using specialized meters to cover the theft. Worse, investigators haven’t ruled out the possibility of officials at Vinnytsiaoblenergo from being in on it.
That said, Vinnytsiaoblenergo denies any involvement:
The equipment used for cryptocurrency mining has never operated on premises owned by our enterprise.
Vinnytsiaoblenergo, via Kyiv Post
…and also denies that they’ve detected any such theft. Though they also state that they defer that judgement to the authorities.
It’s not necessarily cut and dried in this case though. As the Kyiv Post goes on:
Experts said that there are two ways to look at crypto miners in Ukraine: as victims suffering from usually unsubstantiated raids of law enforcement or as criminals who import tech for crypto mining illegally and avoid taxation.
The SBU often abuses its power and seizes valuable equipment worth thousands of dollars without legal justification, said Nataliya Drik, CEO of organization Blockchain Ukraine. The country doesn’t have a state register of data centers used for crypto mining, thus many specialists work in shadow or move abroad to avoid raids. “It also prevents the flow of foreign investment into the country,” Drik said
There are also miners and traders of cryptocurrencies who consider Ukraine as a haven for their activity due to the lack of taxation and regulation.
There’s just one lingering question, in the back of my mind: what did they do with all of the DualShock 4’s?
Source: Kotaku
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