«Big Bitcoin Heist»: Theft of 600 computers used to mine Bitcoins

About 600 computers used for mining Bitcoins and other digital coins were stolen from data centers in Iceland, to what the country's police see as the largest number of thefts that have ever occurred in the country.

According to the Associated Press, about 11 people, including a security guard, were arrested under the so-called "Big Bitcoin Heist," and a judge ordered Friday to remain in custody (the others were released on bail).

Computers, which have not yet been found, cost about $ 2 million. However, if they were used for their original purpose - the mining of new bitcoins - then an enormous economic profit could be obtained, without even having to sell the systems.

"It's a massive robbery that we have not seen before in the past," said Olefur Helgie Kirartanson, head of the Reykjanes Southwest Peninsular Police, where two of the robberies were made. "Everything seems to be a very organized crime."

Three of the four robberies took place in December, and a fourth was in January, but the authorities did not publish the facts, hoping to identify the perpetrators.

Bitcoin - the value of which at the end of last year reached $ 20,000 before it dropped in early 2018 - as well as other cryprobes, are based on blockchain technology, whose key "inventory" (which determines who the coins belong to) is based on "Miners", providing all their computing power to the system, in return for new bitcoins. This involves a large number of computers, that is to say, large amounts of energy - many of which are active in the field to switch to Iceland, combining low temperatures with cheap and renewable energy thanks to its geothermal and hydropower plants.

Police monitor the levels of energy consumption across the country, hoping to identify the perpetrators in this way, according to an industry source that spoke anonymously to the Associated Press.

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