Malaysian Authorities Hunt Rogue Bitcoin Miners in Nationwide Crackdown
Malaysian authorities are on the hunt. The target? Rogue Bitcoin mining operations siphoning power and operating outside the law.
The Power Drain
These clandestine setups aren't just mining digital gold—they're stealing the real-world energy needed to produce it. By bypassing meters and tapping directly into grid infrastructure, these operations represent a multi-million dollar drain on national resources. It's a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, with miners constantly evolving their tactics to avoid detection.
Regulation vs. Innovation
The crackdown highlights the tightrope governments walk. On one side is the need to foster technological innovation and the potential economic benefits of blockchain. On the other is the imperative to maintain grid stability, enforce tax laws, and regulate financial activities. Unlicensed mining sits squarely in the crosshairs, viewed less as disruptive tech and more as organized theft.
The Cost of Decentralization
For advocates, Bitcoin mining is the backbone of a decentralized financial future. For regulators, it's an unlicensed energy consumer operating in the shadows. The chase across Malaysia underscores a global tension: how to harness a technology designed to bypass traditional gatekeepers. After all, what's a little stolen electricity when you're building a new monetary system? Just ask the utility companies footing the bill—they'll call it something else entirely.
Taskforce forms to chase down mining operators
On November 19, Malaysia launched a new taskforce made up of the Ministry of Finance, Bank Negara Malaysia, and TNB.
Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, who serves as deputy minister of energy transition and water transformation, is in charge of the team. “You can actually even break our facilities. It becomes a challenge to our system,” Akmal said on Wednesday.
The rigs that miners use run around the clock, blasting out trillions of guesses every second. That’s how they validate transactions and get rewarded in Bitcoin. It’s a race. The more guesses you make, the better your odds. But it also burns massive amounts of electricity.
One group turned ElementX Mall, a half-dead shopping center overlooking the Strait of Malacca, into a full-on crypto farm. The mall shut down during the pandemic and never bounced back.
Floors are still unfinished. Wires hang from the ceiling. In early 2022, Bitcoin rigs filled the space. By 2025, they were gone. A TikTok video made the whole thing public.
A report from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance said over 75 percent of mining now happens in the United States. Malaysia used to hold 2.5 percent of global hashrate in January 2022, but Chainalysis hasn’t released a report/data on that since then.
Miners occupy failed malls, logging sites across country
Another outfit called Bityou took over a former logging yard in Sarawak. Under Malaysian law, bitcoin mining is legal. But only if you get your power legally and pay your taxes. Akmal isn’t buying it. He’s joined raids before. He’s seen how these groups operate. When the taskforce held its first meeting on November 25, some members pushed to outlaw mining altogether.
“Even if you run it properly, the challenge is that the market itself is very volatile,” Akmal said. “I don’t see any well-run mining that can be considered as successful legally.”
He also thinks the way these operations move around shows signs of organized crime. “It’s clearly run by the syndicate, because of how mobile they are from setting up in one place to another place,” Akmal said. “It does have modus operandi.”
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