Malaysia Reports $1.1B Losses from Crypto Mining Power Theft

Malaysia's national utility company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), has reported losses exceeding 1.1 billion U.S. dollars from illegal electricity theft linked to cryptocurrency mining operations across the country from 2020 to August 2024. The Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry disclosed that authorities identified 13,827 premises involved in these activities, primarily for mining Bitcoin, during a parliamentary reply on November 18.

The theft, which involved tampering with electricity meters or bypassing connections to tap directly into the national grid, has strained the power infrastructure and posed risks to public safety and economic stability. Officials described the operations as a serious threat to the national energy supply system, noting that mining setups consume vast amounts of power continuously, often in rented buildings like shops, homes, and warehouses to evade detection. Cases of such power theft tied to cryptocurrency mining surged by 300 percent between 2018 and 2024, averaging 2,303 incidents annually from 2020 onward, with TNB receiving about 1,699 public complaints during the period.

In response, TNB has intensified enforcement through...