
Computers used to mine cryptocurrencies stolen from data centers in Iceland - kimsk112
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bitcoin-heist-computers-stolen-in-iceland/
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d357r0y3r
Iceland isn't very big and it's completely isolated. Did they plan to get
those 600 computers off the island, or did they expect to keep them there and
not get caught?

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sillysaurus3
And you might even be able to track them down by measuring the power usage.
600 computers surely pull a measurable amount of electricity, so if you graph
the power usage across the entire country and look for anomalies you might be
able to spot when and where they come online.

It would depend how much noise is in the graph, and how much energy 600
computers use relative to the total energy usage of various parts of the grid.
If they went to a major city, probably not. But perhaps the usage in a smaller
town would show up as a spike.

I'm really curious whether this would work. Kind of a creepy thought. Hard to
escape the eyes of modern technology.

On the other hand, they thought about every aspect of this heist, so maybe
they're going to power the computers with gasoline generators. It's hard to
know what to be paranoid about when thinking deviously.

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gomox
Assuming they're Antminer S9s they consume around 1 kW each, 600 kW is usually
a non negligible amount of electricity to have available.

But, interestingly, Iceland also has a lot of artificially lit/heated
greenhouses that can be seen from very far away. Those probably take a lot of
power as well.

Electricity is insanely cheap there because of geothermal generation. Private
generation is a thing there as well, IIRC.

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tomglynch
Usually criminals need to sell the goods they steal, now they can just use the
goods.

Is this a new type of crime?

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meowface
These computers are worth millions, so it's possible they could try to sell
them.

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tomglynch
The computers are worth $3m. I'd gauge they could generate that amount of
bitcoin within 18 months?

This also brings an interesting thought - will it be harder to track down
those running a hydroponic lab in the future, with many houses using huge
amounts of electricity on mining?

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spondyl
It's also a bet on whether Bitcoin will stay afloat for the next 18 months

