The Ukrainian Security Service just raided an illegal crypto-mining operation using 3,800 PS4 consoles!
Take a look inside this Ukrainian PS4 crypto-mine, and find out how much they’re making!
Ukrainian Crypto-Mine With 3,800 PS4 Consoles Raided!
Cryptocurrency miners have turned the gaming world upside down, buying up graphics cards and even gaming laptops in bulk. As long as it has a GPU, they are snatching it up!
But their demand for more computing power does not seem to be sated, and they even turned their attention to old PS4 consoles!
While many have pooh-poohed the possibility of mining cryptocurrency using PS4 consoles, the Ukrainians went ahead and did it!
On 8 July 2021, the Ukrainian SBU (Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrayiny, Security Service of Ukraine) raided the LARGEST illegal crypto-mine in Ukraine, finding :
- 3800 PS4 gaming consoles,
- more than 500 graphics cards,
- 50 processors,
- documents accounting their power consumption,
- notebooks, phones, and flash drives.
By hiding inside the former premises of JSC Vinnytsia Oblenerho – a leading Ukrainian power supply company, this crypto-mine conveniently and quietly stole power from the JSC Vinnytsia Oblenerho network!
According to preliminary estimates, they were siphoning about 5 to 7 million Ukrainian Hryvnia (approximately US$180,000 to 260,000 / RM770,000 to 1.08 million) every month!
How Much Can This Ukrainian PS4 Crypto-Mine Make?
The PS4 and PS4 Slim use a custom AMD Radeon 7970M GPU, with 18 compute units and 8 GB of GDDR5 memory with 176 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
It is roughly 20% slower than the AMD Radeon 7970M mobile GPU, but cryptomining is less about processing power, and memory bandwidth.
So let’s just call PS4 Slim equivalent to the Radeon 7970M for mining purposes, which delivers a hash rate of about 8.35 H/s.
Each PS4 console would be fast enough to generate 0.00013896 BTC worth US$4.62 per month, as of 12 July 2021.
So that Ukrainian PS4 crypto-mine with 3,800 PS4 consoles should generate about 0.528048 BTC worth US$18,041 per month, as of 12 July 2021.
That’s really not a lot of profit to be honest, especially when you consider how much electricity they are actually using!
In fact, it is really a loss-making operation if they actually paid for their electricity – they would lose $9 for every dollar they make!
Ukrainian SBU : Official Statement On PS4 Crypto-Mine
This is the English translation of the official statement by the Ukrainian SBU on the illegal PS4 crypto-mine :
The Security Service of Ukraine has exposed and documented the illegal extraction of large amounts of electricity in Vinnytsia. The attackers exchanged cryptocurrency directly in one of the former premises of JSC Vinnytsiaoblenerho. Currently, it is the largest underground crypto-farm discovered by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies: almost 5,000 units of computer equipment were seized.
SBU officers established that the illegal crypto-farm was created by residents of Kyiv and Vinnytsia. They used one of the former warehouses of Vinnytsiaoblenerho JSC, which is located on the company’s industrial site.
The attackers illegally took electricity from the networks of JSC Vinnytsiaoblenerho. To hide their activities, they used conventional means of accounting for electricity consumption.
According to preliminary conclusions of experts, the monthly amount of losses from such activities can range from 5 to 7 million UAH. At the same time, the illegal withdrawal of electricity could lead to more global consequences – entire neighborhoods of Vinnytsia could be left without electricity.
Militiamen registered criminal proceedings under part 2 of Art. 188-1 (theft of water, electricity or heat through its unauthorized use) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
During the authorized searches at the place of operation of the farm and at the addresses of the defendants, the following were seized:
- 3800 game consoles;
- more than 500 video cards;
- 50 processors;
- draft documentation on electricity consumption accounting;
- notebooks, phones, flash drives.
Currently, operational and investigative actions are underway to establish the full range of persons involved in illegal activities, including the involvement of officials of JSC “Vinnytsiaoblenergo”.
Exposure measures were carried out by the State Security Counterintelligence Protection Service in the field of economic security of the SBU together with the USBU in Vinnytsia Oblast and the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine and under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Please Support My Work!
If you would like to support my work, you can do so via bank transfer / PayPal / credit card.
Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Thank you in advanced! ❤️
Recommended Reading
- 2021 Acer Spin 3 + Spin 5 : What You Need To Know!
- 2021 HUAWEI MatePad Pro Productivity Tips!
- Dell UltraSharp Webcam (WB7022) : All You Need To Know!
- FamilyMart 70th Anniversary Survey Scam Alert!
- EU Digital COVID Certificate : A Comedy Of Errors!
- Gaming Influencer Fail : Jaja zuber Teaches A Valuable Lesson
- Can Hackers Use Good Morning Messages To Hack You?
- Was Shopee Warehouse Closed After 50 COVID-19 Cases?
- Can COVID-19 Patients Request For Ivermectin In Malaysia?
- Scam Alert : Ziverdo Kit Against COVID-19!
- Did China Contribute 60% Of COVAX Vaccine Supply?
Go Back To > Business | Computer | Tech ARP
Support Tech ARP!
Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!
