Chinese Hackers Mined $800k Worth Siacoin Hiddenly

According to the police, hackers in collusion with serving companies hacked 100,000 computers in Internet cafes in 30 Chinese cities

19 June 2018 1609

In China, 16 people were arrested who earned $ 800,000 on the illegal mining of Siacoin cryptocurrency in the Internet cafes in dozens of Chinese cities, CoinDesk reports.

According to the police of Chinese Ruian (Zhejiang Province), hackers in collusion with serving companies hacked 100,000 computers in Internet cafes in 30 Chinese cities . Their income was 5 million yuan ($ 800,000).

Hackers used a malicious program that used the computing resources of infected devices to extract Siacoin crypto currency. Malicious software was sold to employees of computer maintenance companies who could download it to a PC in an Internet cafe during scheduled checks.

Suspicions arose in July 2017, when employees of Internet cafes in Ruyan noticed that their computers began to work very slowly. The CPU performance dropped by 70% even after the reboot.

Around the same time, the price of Siacoin according to CoinMarketCap grew by 400% from $ 0.002 in May to more than $ 0.01 in July. Accounts for utility services of Internet cafe Ruiana during this period also significantly increased. This caused their owners to contact the police.

Most Internet cafes in Ruian were served by one company. Its executive director was arrested in August last year, and disclosed information about hackers.

Mining Bitcoin Blockchain

Argo to Report on Mining Profitability Increase in Q2

It was also reported that by the end of June, company owns about £ 3 million in crypto assets, which is 7.7% higher than expected

03 July 2019 249

The British mining company Argo Blockchain published a financial report for the second quarter of 2019, according to which its revenues increased significantly in the second quarter, exceeding its own expectations.

So, in comparison with the previous report, published in early June, the income from mining Argo Blockchain increased by 24%. The increase in profitability from mining at the same time turned out to be proportional to the increase in the Bitcoin price observed during the recent period.

The Company now expects to generate 161 BTC, or GBP1.38m of cryptoassets, in June based on a BTC price of $10,817.16 USD as of 30 June 2019. This is an increase of approximately 101% from the Company's May mining results and represents a mining margin of roughly 81%. The Company considers that this demonstrates that the Company is one of the most efficient miners in the market.

Argo Blockchain Team

Argo Blockchain also said that as of the end of June, the company owns about £ 3 million in cryptocurrency assets, which is 7.7% higher than expected.

Also Argo Blockchain intends to expand its activities. In particular, the company plans to deploy another 2500 miners in Quebec by the end of the third quarter, which is also expected to significantly increase revenues.

Our better-than-expected mining performance reflects both improving industry conditions as well as Argo's business strategy, which has enabled it to rapidly ramp up operations and thereby take full advantage of the upturn. As a result, we enter the third quarter with a strong momentum to deliver further growth and improving mining efficiency.

Mike Edwards

Executive chairman, Argo

It should be noted Argo Blockchain was the first cryptocurrency company, the placement of shares of which was approved by the London Stock Exchange last June.