⚡️ Malaysian Power Crisis: National Utility Hit with RM4.57 BILLION Loss to Crypto Thieves 🚨
Malaysia's national utility, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), has confirmed staggering losses due to widespread electricity theft by illegal cryptocurrency miners, calling the issue a "serious threat" to the nation's energy system.
The Alarming Numbers (2020 – August 2025):
Total Financial Loss: Over RM4.57 BILLION (approx. $1.11 Billion USD). This figure has mounted from illegal electricity use, primarily for Bitcoin mining setups.
Sites Uncovered: A massive 13,827 premises nationwide were detected stealing power for their mining operations.
The Problem: These syndicates typically bypass or tamper with electricity meters to siphon huge amounts of unbilled power, which not only causes massive revenue loss for TNB but also creates a significant public safety hazard and jeopardizes the integrity of the national grid.
Intensified Crackdown and Future Measures:
The Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry confirmed that while cryptocurrency mining itself is generally not illegal in Malaysia, electricity theft is a criminal offense under the Electricity Supply Act, punishable by heavy fines and imprisonment.
Joint Operations: TNB is leading an aggressive, multi-agency crackdown with the police, anti-corruption units, and other regulators, resulting in continuous raids and large-scale seizures of mining machines.
New Tech & Data: TNB has established a dedicated database to track landlords and tenants suspected of theft and is deploying smart meters and pilot monitoring systems to detect irregularities in real-time.
Policy Review: The government has established a special committee to address the issue, which will discuss policy-level interventions, potential improvements to the Electricity Supply Act, and even the possibility of a ban on Bitcoin mining to curb the theft.
