BlockBeats message, April 3, according to China News Weekly, the People’s Court of Honggang District, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, has recently released a judgment of first instance. The court, for the crime of theft, respectively sentenced Zhang to ten years’ imprisonment and sentenced Zhao to four years and ten months’ imprisonment. Zhang and Zhao, for illegal profit, secretly tapped into the high-voltage power lines of an oil field to “steal electricity,” and set up 36 Bitcoin mining machines inside a disused pigsty for mining.
After trial, it was found that on September 8, 2024, Zhang secretly tapped into the oil-field high-voltage power line of an oilfield of a certain production company limited in Daqing. Inside the disused pigsty in the slaughterhouse facility he leased, the stolen electricity was used to power Bitcoin mining machines. Zhang first purchased 24 mining machines. Later, Zhang contacted Zhao to bring him on board, and they jointly operated Bitcoin mining machines for mining.
On August 1, 2025, Zhang and Zhao were arrested by public security authorities. After calculation, Zhang stole 565,375.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity from the oil field, worth RMB 438,580.52 yuan. Zhao, starting from December 12, 2024, stole 468,060 kilowatt-hours of electricity from the oil field, worth RMB 363,750.78 yuan.
In summary, the court ruled: Zhang committed theft and was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment, and was fined RMB 50,000 yuan; Zhao committed theft and was sentenced to four years and ten months’ imprisonment, and was fined RMB 20,000 yuan. Zhang was ordered to make restitution of RMB 438,580.52 yuan, and Zhao bears joint responsibility for restitution of RMB 363,750.78 yuan. As for the Bitcoin mining machines, phones, switches, transformers, and other items seized in this case, the public security authorities shall handle them according to law.
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