• A Massachusetts man, Nadeam Nahas, faces charges after illegally mining cryptocurrency in a school crawl space.
• He leveraged the school’s electricity to increase his profits while avoiding the expensive cost of electricity needed for Bitcoin mining.
• Illegal crypto-mining operations are fairly common, as perpetrators have been caught stealing equipment and tapping into power sources in various locations.

Massachusetts Man Charged with Crypto-Mining

A Massachusetts man is facing charges after engaging in an illegal mining operation on school property. Nadeam Nahas was set to be arraigned today but failed to appear and a default warrant was issued by the judge.

Discovery of Mining Operation

The town’s facilities director discovered computers and related equipment in a school crawl space in December 2021 and reported it to police. The IT director later determined that the configuration was used for cryptocurrency mining connected to the school’s electrical system, leading investigators to suspect Nahas as the perpetrator.

Illegal Crypto Mining Commonplace

Illegal crypto-mining operations are fairly common due to the potential for profit despite high costs associated with using legitimate electricity sources. Perpetrators have been found mining cryptocurrency on university campuses, mental hospitals, government buildings, airports and other locations by either stealing equipment or tapping into existing power sources.

Costs Involved with Bitcoin Mining

According to Visual Capitalist, it cost $35,404 USD to mine a single Bitcoin last year — more than double its current value at the time of writing this article. This makes illegal methods highly appealing as they allow miners to bypass these inflated costs while still profiting from their activities when done effectively.

Cryptocurrency Mined Unknown

It is not currently known which cryptocurrency was being mined by Nahas in this incident; however, Bitcoin is usually involved when it comes to both legal or illicit operations of this nature.