DD Support Board and Research Team

[scion]

Hundreds of bitcoin-mining servers stolen in Iceland

Two people held and others questioned over large-scale thefts from data centres

Agence France-Presse in Reykjavik Wed 7 Mar 2018 11.53 EST Last modified on Wed 7 Mar 2018 12.02 EST
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/07/hundreds-of-bitcoin-mining-servers-stolen-in-iceland?CMP=twt_gu

About 600 computer servers used to mine bitcoin were stolen in Iceland in a series of large-scale robberies in December and January, according to police.

The servers were taken from data centres in Reykjanesbær, near Reykjavik airport, and Borgarnes on Iceland’s west coast.

About 10 people have been brought in for questioning, and two Icelanders in their 20s and 30s are being held on suspicion of involvement in the thefts, a police spokesman for south-west Iceland told AFP on Wednesday.

He suggested the thefts could be linked to organised crime, saying: “Everything points in that direction.”

The thieves may have wanted to use the stolen equipment to “mine”, or create, bitcoin – a potentially lucrative affair but one that requires advanced and expensive equipment.

Investigators are still trying to locate the missing equipment, which is valued at around 200m kronur (£1.45m).

Bitcoin’s value has soared since it came into being in 2009, though it has almost halved from a high of more than $19,500 in mid-December to $10,500 today.

Iceland has become a magnet for cryptocurrency farms, blockchain technologies and data centres because of its cold climate, which is instrumental in cooling the energy-consuming servers, and its low electricity prices.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/07/hundreds-of-bitcoin-mining-servers-stolen-in-iceland?CMP=twt_gu