Over the past five years, Malaysia has investigated about 14,000 illegally encrypted mining sites and lost over $1.1 billion to state-owned electricity companies. The local government set up a special committee in November 2025 to consider a total ban on mining
Original title: Bitcoin Miners Hunt After Stealing $1 Billion of Electricity From Malaysia Grid
Original by Ryan Weeks, Kok Leong Chan, Netty Idayu Ismail, Bloomberg
Photo by Chopper, Foresight News
In Malaysia, tracing operations were conducted from the air in areas with a high incidence of illegal encrypted currency mining. The drones circled a row of merchants and abandoned houses in search of abnormal heat sources, which were typical heat signals when illegal miners operated. On the ground, police have hand-held sensors to screen for unusual electricity use. In some cases, tracing techniques are more primitive: when residents hear strange bird alarms, the police arrive to find out that natural sound was deliberately played to cover the sound of behind closed doors。
Together, these tools provide a mobile monitoring network, which is dedicated to the illegal mining of bitcoin。
In July 2024, an official inspected the machines after a bitcoin mining raid
The mining companies that were traced were very careful: They frequently move positions between empty shops and abandoned houses, install an insulation layer to cover thermal radiation during the operation of the mine; provide closed-circuit televisions, heavy security facilities and broken glass barriers at the entrance and secure the intrusion of impassable passengers。
This is a game between Malaysian authorities and bitcoin miners. Over the past five years, Malaysia has identified approximately 14,000 illegal mining sites. According to Ministry of Energy data, the State-owned energy company Tenaga Nasional (known as TNB) suffered $1.1 billion in losses from electricity theft during the same period, and this trend is increasing. At the beginning of October this year, Bitcoin prices were at an all-time high, and as of that time the authorities had registered some 300 million cases of electricity theft related to mining。
Bitcoin made a record $126,251 in October 2025, after which the price of encrypted currency fell sharply
Today, Malaysia is upgrading its capacity. On 19 November, the Government set up a special inter-ministerial committee, comprising the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank of Malaysia and the National Energy Group, which will coordinate a special campaign against illegal mining operators。
“The risk of allowing such acts goes beyond the theft of electricity,” said Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, Deputy Minister of Energy Transformation and Water, who is also Chairman of the Commission, “these activities may even damage our electricity facilities, posing a serious challenge to the grid system.” I don't know
Bitcoin mining is essentially a calculator competition: the specialized equipment that is lined up can produce hundreds of trillion calculations per second, with a view to successfully validating transactions and obtaining a bitcoin reward。
Bitcoin mining is a big deal. Global consumption of bitcoin mining has exceeded total electricity consumption in South Africa or Thailand. According to the University of Cambridge Center for Alternative Financial Research, over 75 per cent of Bitcoin mining activity is currently concentrated in the United States. Malaysia ' s share in this sector is relatively vague: in January 2022, its global figure was 2.5 per cent, but the latest Cambridge University study did not publish updated data。
It is clear that Malaysian miners are good at retrofitting various special sites for mining。
The ElementX shopping mall overlooking the Strait of Malacca, a vast complex that was devastated by the new coronary outbreak. Today, much of the mall is still like a construction site, with bare concrete on the ground and no wires being covered. At the beginning of 2022, the mall received a special tenant: a bitcoin miner. It was not until early 2025 that a TikTok video red network that revealed its mining operations was removed from the field。
Similar hidden mining sites also exist in East Mathala, hundreds of miles away. Bloomberg News previously reported that a company called Bityou had built a mine in an old logging yard. The company has not responded to comments on the issues raised here。
In Malaysia, mining of Bitcoin is legal as long as the operator has legal access to electricity and is taxed in accordance with the law。
But Akmal does not agree. At the first meeting of the Special Committee, on 25 November, members held a discussion on whether to recommend a total ban on mining in Bitcoin。
"Even if mining operations are in compliance, the high volatility of the market remains a major challenge," he says, "I do not think that any mining company can be described as a `seniorly successful operation' at this time." I don't know
He further indicated that the large number of illegal bitcoin mining sites and the pattern of activities of those behind the scenes were indicative of organized crime behind them。
“These activities are apparently controlled by criminal groups”, Akmal says. “The modus operandi of these machines has become a fixed pattern in terms of the mobility of frequent transfers between different locations. I don't know
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