Given the competitive element in the quest for valuable cryptocurrency, powerful mining rigs—essentially, PCs purpose-built to maximize mining rewards—are the preferred tool of serious crypto miners.
They are expensive, and persistent demand and manufacturing delays can mean months-long waits for rigs to be delivered.
This week, police in Malaysia crushed 1,069 of them with a steamroller.
Authorities in the city of Miri in Sarawak, Malaysia seized 1,069 rigs from miners alleged to have stolen electricity for their operations, per a report from local publication The Star.
Local Sarawak news outlet Dayak Daily adds that the rigs were collected over the course of six separate raids.
Neither outlet stated why the police felt it was necessary to destroy the machines in such dramatic fashion, though it certainly sends a strong message.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the terminally-online Dogecoin memer, has since become reviled by many crypto enthusiasts for his perceived meddling in the scene, including the formation of a “Bitcoin Mining Council.” »