Watch Police Crush 1,069 Bitcoin Mining Rigs With a Huge Steamroller

Officials destroyed $1.25 million worth of mining rigs.

1,069 Mining Rigs Crushed

Law enforcement officials in Malaysia seized 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs before crushing them all with a big steamroller last week.

The seizure was a part of a joint operation between police officers in the city of Miri and Sarawak Energy, an electric utility company in Malaysia, to crack down on crypto miners who stole electricity to mine Bitcoin, according to Vice. The rigs were taken by police during six separate raids that occurred between February and April.

This week, they were destroyed in spectacular fashion when officials laid them all out in a parking lot at police headquarters and ran them over with a steamroller. Check out the video of the action below:

Cost of Crypto Mining

All told, authorities destroyed about $1.25 million worth of devices — and that still doesn’t make up for the cost of the stolen energy.

In fact, Sarawak Energy claims that it has lost roughly $2 million due to miners stealing electricity.

"The electricity theft for mining Bitcoin activities has caused frequent power outages, and in 2021, three houses were razed due to illegal electricity supply connections," said Hakemal Hawari, a Miri police chief, to local Malaysian newspaper The Star.

Crypto mining is notorious for its immense energy consumption and harmful environmental impact as a result. In fact, Elon Musk claimed that it was one of the biggest reasons he chose to drop Bitcoin as a form of payment for Tesla in May.

More on crypto: The Creator of Dogecoin Says He Now Believes That All Cryptocurrency Is Horrible

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