Southeast Asia: Authorities Crack Down on Illegal Bitcoin Mining by Criminal Networks

Authorities across Southeast Asia are escalating their fight against illegal Bitcoin mining, increasingly operated by organized criminal networks. Over the past five years, Malaysia has registered approximately 14,000 illegal mining sites. State-owned energy provider Tenaga Nasional Berhad estimates damages from electricity theft at roughly 1.1 billion US dollars ^[1].

In early May, Malaysian authorities reported a 300 percent surge in cases. In November, the government established an inter-agency special committee that is even discussing a complete mining ban ^[1].

In Thailand, investigators seized 3,642 mining rigs worth a total of 8.6 million US dollars in raids conducted in early December. Authorities suspect links to Chinese transnational fraud networks operating from Myanmar. The operations were used not only for electricity theft but also for money laundering of illegal proceeds totaling over 143 million US dollars ^[1].

International organizations such as Interpol and UNODC, the UN agency, now classify the scam networks as transnational criminal threats. The United States also established a special task force to combat these networks ^[1].