Four people have been arrested in Venezuela for using the country’s electricity illegally by mining Bitcoins. Bitcoin mining is a very power-intensive activity consuming many units of electricity a day. Implying that if unpaid electricity is used, within just a few weeks, millions of dollars in power revenue could be lost.
Venezuela is a country hit by one of the worst economic downturns coupled with acute inflation, unemployment and food rationing. Recently, the government introduced a scheme whereby it sells subsidized to free electricity to some Bitcoin miners, neglecting other miners. The way miners are selected to receive the subsidies from the government is rather unclear. Some people devised a mechanism which would allow them to use unmetered electricity for bitcoin mining which unfortunately became theft and is punishable under Venezuelan law.
You can read the full article here: https://coinidol.com/miners-steal-elect ... venezuela/