Tons of PS4s Discovered in Crypto Mine in Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) discovered a huge cryptocurrency mine consisting primarily of PlayStation 4 consoles. Criminals found a way to turn it into a profitable business.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) discovered an abandoned warehouse full of electronic equipment for mining cryptocurrencies in Vinnitsa (central Ukraine). The owners of the digital mine were illegally consuming electricity, trying to mask this with modified meters. According to estimates, the monthly value of illegally used electricity ranged from USD 186,200 to 259,300, and the scope of the procedure could cause energy shortages in the region. The Ukrainian service did not say whether the criminals mined bitcoin (BTC) or another cryptocurrency.
At the premises owned by Vinnytsiaoblenergo, 5000 pieces of electronic devices were secured, including:
- 3800 gaming consoles;
- Over 500 GPUs;
- 50 processors;
- Laptops, smartphones, flash drives.
The use of PlayStation 4 on such a large scale is a curiosity - until now, this device has not attracted the attention of miners due to its low comparably performance. Mining of most cryptocurrencies, including the most popular BTC or ETH, requires huge computing power, so the more efficient the hardware, the better. The mining rigs usually consist of the latest GPU models, such as GeForce RTX 3080, and a seemingly huge investment can pay for itself in just a few months. That's reason enough for graphics cards to disappear from shelves and prices to skyrocket.
The problem is the cost of energy, which is why crypto mines are created primarily in places where it is cheap. This was the reason for the industry's expansion in Chinese provinces, which had access to cheap energy, but the authorities began to crack down on the activity. If the electricity is free, then mining can prove profitable even with seemingly inefficient devices like the PlayStation 4.
