Ukraine: Police Employees Accused of Stealing Electricity to Mine Crypto, Report Says

Employees of the local headquarters of the National Police in Rivne, Ukraine have been mining cryptocurrency at work, local news outlet 368.media reports today, May 22.

Citing materials from criminal proceedings, 368.media reports that employees of the local Police’s Communications Department have been accused of stealing electricity to mine cryptocurrency in the workplace. The unnamed employees were allegedly mining cryptocurrency at work for four months. 368.Media notes that it is yet unclear how much electricity was reportedly stolen or what kind of cryptocurrency was being mined.

368.Media writes that employees at the National Police’s Department for Internal Security found cryptocurrency mining equipment in the office of the Communications Department this April. A regional bureau investigator confiscated a total of eight video cards, six power supply units, two hard drives, a motherboard, and a full computer system unit.

Cryptocurrency mining is legal in Ukraine, and the legal and regulatory status of cryptocurrency will soon be decided, according to draft legislation from Ukrainian parliament released last week. Previously, the head of the Ukrainian National Securities and Stock Commission said they were considering recognizing cryptocurrencies as a financial instrument.