Authorities across Southeast Asia are confronting a growing crisis where cryptocurrency mining operations are being systematically used to steal electricity and launder criminal proceeds.
A raid in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor last month uncovered 71 cryptocurrency-mining machines running continuously across four rented premises for approximately one month before police intervened.
Officers arrested three suspects during raids on July 22 and 23, seizing computers, routers, vehicles, and equipment used to illegally mine Bitcoin from the locations.
Johor police chief Ab Rahaman Arsad said the syndicate bypassed electricity meters, causing an estimated $16,600 in losses over the one-month period according to local media reports.
The machines were believed to be generating between $19,700 and $24,600 in monthly revenue, making the operation profitable despite its relatively modest scale by Malaysian standards.
Between 2020 and 2025, national utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad identified almost 14,000 premises linked to electricity theft for cryptocurrency mining, with cumulative losses reaching approximately $1.26 billion.
Recorded cases of electricity theft increased from 610 in 2018 to 2,397 in 2024, according to Malaysia’s Energy Ministry, which has described illegal mining as a serious threat to public safety and economic stability.
“In Malaysia, thousands of incidents have triggered investigations into illegal mining for cryptocurrency purposes,” said Sonny Zulhuda, associate professor at the International Islamic University Malaysia.
Zulhuda told DW that “enforcement has been lagging behind, due to a lack of legislative preparedness and limited agency capability in enforcement and investigation,” warning that Malaysia is fast developing its digital infrastructure and cannot afford the disruption.
“This poses a huge problem for the security of electricity resources, economic sustainability, competition, and revenue loss,” Zulhuda added, underlining the scale of the structural challenge facing regional governments.
Cryptocurrency mining is not inherently criminal, but authorities are increasingly finding links between illegal crypto mining, online gambling, money laundering, and Southeast Asia’s industrial-scale cyber scam networks.
The United States and the United Kingdom sanctioned the Cambodia-based Prince Group and associated companies last October, alleging that the network operated forced-labor scam compounds and laundered proceeds through cryptocurrencies and other assets.
US authorities also seized Bitcoin worth approximately $15 billion from wallets whose private keys were held by Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi, describing the assets as proceeds and instruments of fraud and money laundering.
Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation has established the clearest connection between stolen electricity and transnational criminal networks operating across the region.
In 2025, Thai investigators dismantled three major illegal crypto mining networks, seizing more than 6,390 machines and estimating losses to the Provincial Electricity Authority at more than $28.5 million.
In one Thai operation alone, authorities found around 1,900 mining machines at warehouse sites consuming power worth approximately $659,000 each month while paying only a fraction of the amount due.
Indonesia has faced similar challenges, with police in North Sumatra raiding ten sites in December 2023 and seizing more than 1,100 Bitcoin-mining machines, with state utility PLN estimating six-month losses at around $802,000.
Saaidal Razalli Azzuhri, a telecommunications expert at the University of Malaya, told DW that raids should be supported by transformer-level monitoring, mandatory licensing, disclosure of companies’ beneficial owners, and investigations tracing bank transfers and cryptocurrency wallets.
“The objective should not be to prohibit blockchain technology, but to ensure that miners pay the full economic cost of their electricity and do not transfer their costs and infrastructure risks to the public,” Azzuhri said.
Laos authorized six companies to mine and trade cryptocurrencies in mid-2021, believing the plan would monetize surplus hydropower energy, but the industry consumed around 500 megawatts at its peak while creating few jobs and little domestic supply chain activity.
Deputy Energy Minister Chanthaboun Soukaloun announced last October that the government intended to end electricity supplies to miners, redirecting power toward metals processing, electric-vehicle manufacturing, and artificial intelligence data centers instead.
The regional experience carries a broader warning: cheap electricity can attract crypto miners, but when operators steal power or consume subsidized energy without generating lasting value, the public ultimately bears the cost.
