🔌 300 rigs, one dam, zero electricity bills

Mexican federal prosecutors, the Navy and Puebla state police raided a remote mountain property in the Sierra Norte and seized 300 mining rigs drawing power illegally from the Nuevo Necaxa hydroelectric complex. No contract, no payment.

The tip-off was low-tech: unusual noise and a suspiciously large power draw near the dam. The hardware appears GPU-based — altcoins, not Bitcoin. Mining is legal in Mexico; tapping a federal dam for free electricity is not. Forensic accountants are now tracing the money behind the operation for possible laundering links.

Mexico's state utility puts losses from illegal hookups at 6,346 GWh in just the first seven months of 2024 — around $817 million. Per Decrypt, this is already the fourth mining bust in the region this year.