Die Polizei in Kasachstan verhaftet eine Bande, die IT-Spezialisten dazu zwingt, Krypto-Farmen zu betreiben

Die Strafverfolgungsbehörden in Kasachstan haben Mitglieder einer kriminellen Vereinigung festgenommen, die verdächtigt wird, IT-Experten mit Drohungen und Erpressung dazu gezwungen zu haben, unterirdische Anlagen zum Schürfen von Kryptowährungen zu betreiben. Die Erpresser machten angeblich bis zu einer halben Million US-Dollar aus. dollars a month from their business.

Kazakhstan Busts Illegal Crypto Mining Organization, Detains Dozens

Authorities in Kazakhstan have arrested a group of “criminally oriented individuals” and former convicts who pressured people savvy in information and crypto technology to run illegal installations for cryptocurrency production. Many of the apprehended 23 people had a background in debt-collecting and extortion, the country’s Interior Ministry said in a Erklärung in dieser Woche.

The gang was making estimated profits in the range of $300,000 zu 500,000 each month as a result of their unauthorized crypto mining activities, the department further revealed. During searches, police found a number of weapons, including pistols, ammunition and a Kalashnikov assault rifle. One of the gang members turned out to be an army serviceman.

Investigators were able to establish that the undertaking was quite sophisticated, an indication that the group was not working entirely on its own, the news outlet Eurasianet noted in a report. Over the past few months, it has emerged that major mining operations in Kazakhstan were linked to high-ranking officials and powerful businessmen, added the online portal which covers developments in the region.

Kazakhstan became a crypto mining hotspot after China cracked down on the industry in May, last year. Mining companies were attracted by its low electricity rates but their influx caused an increasing energy deficit. The government in Nur-Sultan responded by taking steps to reduce the consumption in the sector by cutting power supply to licensed mining enterprises on a number of occasions, increasing a tax levy, and going after illegal miners.

Diesen Frühling, the Financial Monitoring Agency discovered and stilllegen mehr als 100 underground mining farms. Commenting on the offensive, the agency remarked that among their operators were firms affiliated with Bolat Nazarbayev, brother of Kazakhstan’s ex-president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Alexander Klebanov who heads the Central Asian Electricity Corporation.

Some of the other closed down facilities were linked to Kairat Sharipbayev, who is the former chairman of the national gas distribution company Qazaqgaz and is believed to be married to Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter, Dariga. Yerlan Nigmatulin, brother of the former speaker of the lower house of parliament, is also suspected of having profited from unauthorized mining, die Berichtsdetails.

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Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev ist ein Journalist aus dem technisch versierten Osteuropa, dem das Zitat von Hitchens gefällt: „Schriftstellerin zu sein, das bin ich, eher als das, was ich tue.“ Neben Krypto, Blockchain und Fintech, Internationale Politik und Wirtschaft sind zwei weitere Inspirationsquellen.

Bildnachweise: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki-Commons, Vladimir Tretyakov