Two workers tapped into the electricity system for the underground in the Russian city of Kazan to power a bitcoin mining operation.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said the 40-year-old chief engineer of Kazan Metro and a 32-year-old employee had been charged with “abuse of official powers”, which carries a jail sentence of up to four years. They allegedly installed bitcoin mining equipment at a transformer substation in March and illegally consumed electricity worth an estimated 352,000 roubles (£3,500) over the course of two months. The two are claimed to have admitted their guilt and the chief engineer resigned.
Bitcoin, the world’s best-known digital currency, launched in 2009. Miners use powerful computers to audit transactions in exchange for the chance to acquire the cryptocurrency.
