How a Malaysian Utility Is Trying to Stop Illegal Bitcoin Mining

Power theft is a growing problem in Malaysia for cryptocurrency mining. But the National Utility has some ideas on how to stop the practice.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd. Bitcoin has proposed a special tariff for mining operators to fight power theft, its top executive said on Thursday. It also proposed that the Energy Commission would encourage bitcoin mining operators to apply for legal power supply.

Tenaga, which is the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia Khazanah National Bhd. Who sees it as its largest shareholder, seeing a growing number of cases where electricity is used to mine cryptocurrencies illegally - and hopes that number will continue to grow, the president and chief executive said in an interview in Bahrain.