worldcoinindex.com
Malaysia’s largest power provider, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), has revealed a staggering $1.1 billion in electricity losses tied to illegal crypto mining operations over the last five years, marking one of the country’s most costly infrastructure challenges to date.
A parliamentary filing dated Tuesday shows that between 2020 and August 2025, Malaysian authorities uncovered 13,827 properties that secretly diverted electricity to mine bitcoin and other digital assets. The 4.57 billion ringgit in power losses, according to the nation’s energy ministry, poses a direct threat to Malaysia’s energy grid, public safety, and broader economic stability.
Malaysia has been fighting illicit mining operations since 2018, as soaring electricity consumption and unregulated crypto farms continue to strain the grid. In August 2024, enforcement teams destroyed more than 900 seized bitcoin mining rigs, valued at nearly 2 million ringgit ($482,160), in one of the country’s most publicized anti-mining actions.
To strengthen its crackdown plans, the ministry confirmed that TNB has now developed a growing internal database cataloging property owners and tenants suspected of electricity theft—allowing teams to more quickly target and inspect high-risk sites.
“This database serves as an important internal reference for identifying and monitoring suspicious premises and forms the basis for operational inspection actions,” the ministry said in its translated report.
On the technical side, TNB has intensified its modernization efforts. The utility has installed smart meters and rolled out a Distribution Transformer Meter pilot program across key substations to detect abnormal usage patterns and catch mining operations earlier than ever before.
With the financial toll rising and the energy grid under pressure, Malaysia’s enforcement push—and its new tech-driven monitoring plans—signal a long-term strategy to curb power theft and rein in illegal crypto miners nationwide.