• Over 1,000 lawsuits have been filed against crypto miners in Russia’s Irkutsk region.
• In over 600 of these cases, courts have ordered the defendants to pay a total of more than 260 million rubles ($3.5 million) in compensation for losses and damages.
• Authorities are trying to regulate crypto mining by introducing differentiated electricity rates depending on consumption.
Crypto Miners Face Legal Action in Russia
Authorities in the Russian region of Irkutsk have so far filed 1,000 lawsuits against what they call „gray“ miners, or people minting coins in their homes.
Compensation Ordered for Losses and Damages
In over half of these cases, courts have ordered the defendants to compensate the operators of the distribution networks. The most common reason for going to court is an unusually high usage of electricity, with one case involving a man whose average monthly power consumption over the course of one year reached almost 80,000 kWh.
Subsidized Rates Being Abused
The compensation sought by power distributors is due to subsidized electricity rates being abused. Domestic purposes can be as low as $0.01 per kWh in rural districts while businesses are required to pay much higher tariffs.