Ukrainian tailor shop was a front for illegal crypto mining

A tailor shop located in Ukraine was illegally mining cryptocurrency and was shut down by local authorities.

Law enforcement discovered that a tailor shop located in Kovel — a city located in the Volyn Oblast of northwestern Ukraine — ran an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation, according to local news outlet Kovel Media.

The commercial court of the Volyn region ruled that businesswoman Alla Deineka from Kovel must pay a UAH 426,770 fine, equivalent to about $11,560 as of press time. The operation involved 51 people. Authorities discovered means to access current transformers by dismantling the protections on the company premises to steal electricity by bypassing the metering device.

Ukraine is now plagued by a war that heavily damaged its infrastructure. According to some reports, it “is on the verge of a complete blackout.” The illegal mining operation was stealing electricity despite the country imposing regular emergency blackouts in areas across the country to maintain its crumbling infrastructure, according to Reuters.

While such illegal operations are significantly more questionable in such situations, it also goes to show that cryptocurrency is operational and accessible in a war-devastated country. Despite collapsing infrastructure, regular emergency blackouts, and damaged internet coverage this operation was able to mine.