According to Irkutskenergosbyt, the utility has pursued thousands of cases since 2019 as illegal crypto mining continues to strain electricity infrastructure in the Irkutsk region.
Irkutskenergosbyt said it has identified about 8,000 suspected illegal crypto mining sites in Russia’s Irkutsk region. Since 2019, the company has filed 2,170 lawsuits seeking around $18.5 million in unpaid electricity charges tied to the suspected operations, with more than 300 cases still under review. The utility previously said miners disguised sites as businesses such as chicken farms, greenhouses, paper mills, gas stations and forest locations. Irkutskenergosbyt also said illegal mining has strained the local power grid and contributed to frequent outages, and the grid operator is now using AI tools to help detect the activity.