In the latest Bitcoin news, employees at the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre in Sarov have been caught using the work computers for Bitcoin mining activities. Utilising one of the world’s most powerful computers, the employees exploited a one petaflop supercomputer for cryptocurrency mining.
Mining Bitcoin on the Russian supercomputer
The main issue is that the supercomputer is not supposed to have a connection to the internet due to security reasons. The center is in the middle of a fortified no man’s land area, is not marked on maps and Russian visitors require a special permit to gain entry. Connecting the supercomputer to the internet means that the center becomes a possible target for government and citizen hackers. Bitcoin also combines the system of computers from around the world together so that transactions can for processing.
The supercomputer has been around since 2011 and was the 12th most powerful computer in the world. With one petaflop in capacity, the processor Can complete 1,000 trillion calculations a second. This system would be able to handle a high amount of transactions in a short amount of time, something that the average miner is unlikely to be able to match.
What happened to the employees?
The number employees were involved in the activity has not been released by Russsian authorities. A spokesperson for the Federal Nuclear center has said that their actions have stopped and no intrusion happened to the system. Tatiana Zalesskaya, the spokesperson for the center, said that “the bungling miners have been detained by the competent authorities. As far as I know, a criminal case has been opened regarding them.”
Will regulation continue to scare cryptocurrency markets
Russia is looking to regulate the cryptocurrency market, along with China, South Korea, and other countries. The Bitcoin market rose to high levels and has been targeted by hackers who have been able to steal millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. While some in the cryptocurrency world do not want to see government regulations come into play, there is the other side of the argument due to the ability to steal cryptocurrencies without the possibility of criminal charges.
Cryptocurrencies have rose to an extreme valuation on the back of a high amount of interest from the public. Now the value is falling due to the threat of government intervention. We will know more in March when delegates of the G20 come together, and Bitcoin will a talking point there. The future of Bitcoin remains cloudy with some experts saying the first generation of cryptocurrencies will make way for new currencies to evolve from the first generation.
Source: BBC
