The Venezuelan army has seized 315 Bitmain Antminer S9 bitcoin mining rigs it claims usually are not correctly registered to function within the nation. Though cryptocurrency mining is authorized in Venezuela, miners say they’ve been unfairly handled, citing unlawful seizures of mining gear and police extortion.
Venezuela Seizes Bitcoin Mining Gear
The Bolivarian Nationwide Guard of Venezuela (GNB) introduced through Twitter Monday that it has seized 315 Antminer S9 bitcoin mining rigs within the southern area of the nation. The GNB is without doubt one of the largest divisions of the Nationwide Bolivarian Armed Forces.
The tweet explains that the GNB determined to grab the bitcoin mining gear as a result of the proprietor didn’t have correct registration papers. The case has been forwarded to the Nationwide Superintendency of Crypto Property and Associated Actions (Sunacrip), the crypto regulator appointed by the federal government of Nicolas Maduro answerable for registering miners.
In line with native information outlet Criptonoticias, that is the primary identified mining gear confiscation by Venezuelan authorities in 2020. The one earlier than this was in September 2019 within the state of Aragua, the place mining rigs had been additionally seized attributable to an absence of correct registration papers.
Miners Warn of Unlawful Seizures and Extortion
Formally, the Venezuelan authorities has legalized cryptocurrency mining, requiring miners to register and procure crypto mining certificates. Nevertheless, cryptocurrency miners within the nation have repeatedly mentioned that mining gear has been illegally seized and miners have been extorted by the police. Quite a few crypto miners advised Criptonoticias that “mining cryptocurrencies in Venezuela has become a risky activity,” the publication conveyed, including that some mentioned police officers have demanded cash bribes to miss mining gear they’ve found.
Veteran crypto miner Joan Telo advised the information outlet that when calculating mining profitability in Venezuela, miners should embody extortion funds and losses from their gear being confiscated. Regardless of crypto mining being a authorized exercise, he added that it “is carried out clandestinely and that inherent costs of migrating the entire operation to another location should be considered, once it is detected by the authorities.”
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