Bitcoin mining can be a terrifying nightmare in Venezuela

in #vincentb6 years ago

En-Lara-localizan-en-un-galpón-21-máquinas-de-Bitcoin.jpg

Today I wanted to share with you this pretty interesting article that I found in Hackernoon, a particular section dedicated to computing science and technology part of the Medium web page:

https://hackernoon.com/extortion-police-raids-and-secrecy-inside-the-venezuelan-bitcoin-mining-world-6e97a25e7402

I think this is a great supplement to the last two articles I already posted here:
https://steemit.com/vincentb/@johanalejo/what-s-up-with-this-venezuelan-cryptocurrency-el-petro
https://steemit.com/vincentb/@johanalejo/my-crypto-experience-so-far-investing-instead-of-trading

In this articles I mentioned that as part of my investments in crypto, I am thinking about mining as a future option (I still don't have enough money to actually buy an antminer but anyway...) and also that the venezuelan goverment has created a national miners registry as a part of it's campaign to embrace the use of cryptocurrencies and to create their very own coin, the Petro.

This registry is conceived to "give permissions" to actually mine not only the Petro (still not 100% clear if it will be a mineable crytpcurrency) but any other coin, and supposedly to give you access to the so called ICO to buy some of the first Petros to be issued.

So at this point, you must be thinking that as bad as this "permissions" sound to anybody who sees cryptocurrencies as the most powerfull tool to accomplish financial and economic freedom from banks and institutions, at least this country is legalizing mining and that puts us ahead of most of the nations of the world.

However you should know that at the present there is no law, normative or whatever that prohibits or limits in anyway (besides the electric comsumption's limitations that must be respected in residential areas) the mining activies.

So what's the problem? In the last couple of years it has been public news that some miners have been detained and their machines have been seized by authorities, charging them with "electricity theft", "foreign exchange fraud" and even "terrorism financing".

Again, having no laws against mining whatsoever that is.

But not every case of mining rigs discovered by government agents has ended this way. In some cases, this "law enforcement" agents simply ended up asking for money on regular basis (here we call that a "vaccine"). Or they could seize some of the machines, forcing the owner to set them up so this "agents" can mine themselves in exchange for letting him/her keep the rest of the rigs, or they could simply seize every machine in exchange for nothing (with a good beating just as a little extra).

The rumour is that many of this machines end up mining inside government owned facilities, so even electricity and air conditioning end up being 100% free for this people.

So, what you think about this socalled "cryto paradise" that Venezuela has become?

I would like to read what you think about all of this

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That photo is quiet scary stuff just by itself. I hope they can find a way to overcome.

One person's paradise is another person's hell.

Honestly, the government should just have a national cryptomine instead of cracking down on the people. Those blockchain ledgers should be quite an interesting read if there is corruption going on.

They announced they're gonna install some national cryptomines. This agents I'm talking about put up these stollen rigs for personal benefit

Born there and run away 6 years ago, I'm at Italy doing my own mining thing. The laws that exist in Venezuela do not work at all, everything it's on it own worse escenario , the potential for mining, yes, but very dangerous, extortion, the danger of life it's imminent. Government agency analyze your power consumption because the electricity company itìs owned by the government as well, so they can track whos mining, once they track down your location, they come and confiscate your equipment, they threat you about going in jail, when there is no law against mining, and of course they just might kill you and hide everything. Not worth it bro.

Born there too. And thinking about mining there, but had know people who’s mining facilities had been confiscated....There is no law for anything there....

They are not only installing and using the machines inside goverment facilities, they also sell the "confiscated" machines to people in exchange for money they have figured out that some machines are too slow to mine so they sell it.

interesting read if there is corruption going on

I am currently mining here in Doral Fl and there is a large community of Venezuelans that have fled their country because of how bad the situation is there. The concurrency that Venezuela is creating is just another way for a corrupt government to stay relevant. The coin is centralized and will do nothing to help the people who are suffering.

Great Post

I Like It
I wish you success

@johanalejo

Holy crap. That's pretty scary. I'm wondering how mining is going to play out in other places as well. Lots of money on the line.

Few Days ago someone known from an important TV show of government posted on Instagram a Picture where he was round of many Bitcoin Machine.... So why he can mine and all those people that they have arrested can't do it????

They only want everything to them and I have heard that rumors about that machines they seize end up inside government buildings and for me It is truth.

Sadly They don't have respect for anything.

Según se dice algunas de estas maquinas terminan minando desde las cárceles del país, con algunos de los reclusos más poderosos como "socios"

Vivo en Venezuela y ahora con el cuento que ya no va a prohibir la minería aqui esta demasiado raro, esa gente esta enferma de poder! lo peor de todo es que son unos brujos que están terminando de destrozar a mi hermosa Venezuela. Aquí les dejo mi primer post por si quieren saber mas de mi! Una venezolana que sigue en la lucha a pesar de haberse separado de muchos de sus seres queridos que ya se han ido... https://steemit.com/venezuela/@bettyrodriguez/escrituras-de-una-venezolana

Hola oye me parece de agrado tu post dado que muestras tu punto de vista al respecto pero te informo que el gobierno mando a ser devueltas todas aquellas maquinas "Antminer" confiscadas, y publicamente dieron a conocer los metodos para ser devueltas y la mejor manera de minar es comprando un paquete elctrico de una mayor capasidad que no vale nada comparado a la ganancia que te da una maquina Antminer

Ver para creer. Ojalá pueda ser así

Ciertamente en Venezuela la corrupción predomina ante la honestidad. Definitivamente es momento de tomar conciencia y hacer valer las leyes de nuestro país. Un país hermoso que esta sumido en desgracia y un mal gobierno. En algún momento la ley tomará las riendas y se hará justicia en mi hermoso país.

Lamentablemente en nuestro país, no se cumplen las leyes. El gobierno es el principal responsable de tanta impunidad. No hay garantia para los inversionístas, porqué todo se maneja a conveniencia y antojo de los que representan las leyes, aunado a los contratiempos u obstáculos que ponen los de la ley y el orden para recibir dinero, es decir, El cobro de vacuna.

Sounds to me that your government wants to control the entire crypto market in your country. In other words, centralization. The exact opposite of what cryptos are about. But, if the world is headed towards decentralization, trying to centralize and keep everything under their control, instead of getting ready for a decentralized world will only hurt regular Venezuelans.

Absolutely

Venezuela is a shithole. Not because of the people but because of the tyrants they are forced to live under. I feel bad for them, i just cant imagine the drastic change these poor people have gone through in the last 15 yesrs

Because of some people. We can't deny that the people responsible for this didn't came from Mars, sadly they're venezuelan too

I hope for the same too, but still... the government's got a record of ruining everything they put their hands on, like supermarket chains... factories... They only get richer and don't know how to well manage anything

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Thanks for posting. Why this type of behavior by governments never stops is hard to say. It seems that it is part of the evolution of every society and every industry. Hard working citizens with ingenuity get taken advantage of by manipulative sycophants. Just think how important these miners could be to helping bring economic expansion to their country. The motivation to learn how to mine coins would leap to young people getting involved with tech on a broader level. Instead they get punished. The best thing for us to do is keeping posting and talking about these issues.

The key here is "control". The government wants to stablish official mining facilities and announcing that they want young people to "work" on these. The truth is you don't need many people to run these mining "farms" and my best guess is that they want to hire a bunch of people (and pay them something close to a minimum wage, about 4US$ a month here) to inflate the employment rates, while keeping for themselves all the mined cryptocurrencies

Very interesting post mate. It’s amazing to see how cryptos are treated in different countries around the world. Though it’s sad that miners in Venezuela are treated this way.

Interesting post there mate!
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I think this recent development in Venezuela can change their economy for good; that is if it is well managed and the government have adequate knowledge of the crypto. I see them becoming one crypto giant

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