Chinese man jailed for 3.5 years after stealing electricity to mine bitcoin - page 4.

gentlemand

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Quote from: DarkDays on October 13, 2018, 04:57:47 PM

Definitely an extraordinary sentence, 3.5 years for the theft of just over $10,000? That sounds way of whack to me, they must be trying to make an example of him to send a chilling message anybody else.

Who knows what Chinese sentencing is like? I'm going to assume that it's not much fun compared to most other places.

A mate of mine stole electricity from his local motorway lights to power his weed growing in a buried shipping container. They seemed more pissed off about the rerouting of power than the drugs. I guess it has the possibility to wreak quite a bit of havoc over a wide area if you mess the job up.

I get the hint that mining with dodgy power is quite a big thing in China.

Capt00

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Well, a poor guy stealing electricity power supply jus to mine bitcoin and I think bitcoin that he mined is not worth to be in jail. That is really punishable by the law, still lucky that he only jailed at 3.5 years. This serves us a moral lesson, why we are stealing even though that is punishable by the law and that stealing electrical power supply is the criminal practice which is not good because time to time you have been caught by the law.

1Referee

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Quote from: DarkDays on October 13, 2018, 04:57:47 PM

Definitely an extraordinary sentence, 3.5 years for the theft of just over $10,000? That sounds way of whack to me, they must be trying to make an example of him to send a chilling message anybody else.

It may look like an extraordinary sentence, but there is a difference between stealing power from a regular power network and stealing power from a train network. In case of the latter, they calculate what potential damage could have been inflicted if trains for whatever reason stopped functioning, or if railway tracks couldn't position themselves. It potentially could have even cost many lives. In that regard, this form of reckless behavior is correctly punished.

So yes, it is a message, and I hope a very clear one.

entrepmind23

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Quote from: DarkDays on October 13, 2018, 04:57:47 PM

Definitely an extraordinary sentence, 3.5 years for the theft of just over $10,000? That sounds way of whack to me, they must be trying to make an example of him to send a chilling message anybody else.

Others may decide to copy what he did that's why they sentence him longer than those much worse crimes they have. This definitely is a message to anybody who may want to think of illegal ways to mine bitcoin. Three and a half years in prison is just too much for me though.

Quote from: DarkDays on October 13, 2018, 04:57:47 PM

It sucks that we live in a world where rapists and murders can get the same or shorter sentences that somebody who stole a paltry $10,000. I understand that what he did was wrong, but the sentence is excessive and does not represent fair justice.

Definitely. I know that what he did was wrong and shouldn't be done but still a punishment of that much is excessive. I am curious though as to where is the bitcoin that mined now.

DarkDays

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Definitely an extraordinary sentence, 3.5 years for the theft of just over $10,000? That sounds way of whack to me, they must be trying to make an example of him to send a chilling message anybody else.

It sucks that we live in a world where rapists and murders can get the same or shorter sentences that somebody who stole a paltry $10,000. I understand that what he did was wrong, but the sentence is excessive and does not represent fair justice.

Glad I don't live in China. Communists countries always seem to have their sentencing guidelines way out of touch with reality.

timerland

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This is an obvious case.

It might not even be related to bitcoin mining per se, because of the fact that the main crime here is stealing electricity. If you steal electricity from the state grid for any purpose, you should obviously be expecting some of prosecution to come your way once they find out.

However, I still don't know if this case was aggravated by the fact that bitcoin mining has all kinds of restrictions within China and various mining firms have moved overseas. Still very ambiguous what exactly the restrictions are, in my opinion.

Mhd-Bobbi

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Quote from: Dominic_Johnson on October 12, 2018, 03:34:55 AM

A man in China has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after stealing electricity from a train network in order to mine bitcoin. Xu Xinghua from Shanxi province pleaded guilty to stealing 104,000 yuan (£11,300), which was used to mine 3.2 bitcoins. Given the current price of bitcoin, 3.2 bitcoins is worth only a little more than what was stolen, however in times past it would be worth a lot more.

(this is the article : https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/bitcoin-mining-china-prison-train-electricity-cryptocurrency-energy-environment-a8577791.html)

I think their idea is very bad by stealing electricity and the railroad network, making money not by bringing disaster, but by working perfectly.
Actually there are many jobs besides stealing, by joining this forum can also make money.

audaciousbeing

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Quote from: Dominic_Johnson on October 12, 2018, 03:34:55 AM

A man in China has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after stealing electricity from a train network in order to mine bitcoin. Xu Xinghua from Shanxi province pleaded guilty to stealing 104,000 yuan (£11,300), which was used to mine 3.2 bitcoins. Given the current price of bitcoin, 3.2 bitcoins is worth only a little more than what was stolen, however in times past it would be worth a lot more.

(this is the article : https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/bitcoin-mining-china-prison-train-electricity-cryptocurrency-energy-environment-a8577791.html)

This punishment is more of sending a message than being to correct a behavior. The margin he got in terms of profit is not enough with the punishment he will have to go through. It will be surprising that the same justice system that commit this man to 3.5 years for literally stealing £11,300 from the public would commit lesser for government official if found guilty of stealing a higher amount. The most fair deal would be to ask him to either pay the money back or collect the entire amount generated from the enterprise then suspend him. But now, he will have to carry the tag 'convict' for the rest of his life for merely wanting to earn a living in other to supplement his income.

Quote from: passwordnow on October 12, 2018, 03:47:23 AM

I think this doesn't belong to Legal.

It needs to be here though because it talks about a legal system that the focus is not on stealing but what he used it for which is related to bitcoin and he needs to be punished severely for that.

passwordnow

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I think this doesn't belong to Legal.

You shouldn't really steal anything and even electricity for your own generation of profit. This makes mining look bad for the people that doesn't really know what bitcoin and mining is, poor guy.

Dominic_Johnson

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A man in China has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after stealing electricity from a train network in order to mine bitcoin. Xu Xinghua from Shanxi province pleaded guilty to stealing 104,000 yuan (£11,300), which was used to mine 3.2 bitcoins. Given the current price of bitcoin, 3.2 bitcoins is worth only a little more than what was stolen, however in times past it would be worth a lot more.

(this is the article : https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/bitcoin-mining-china-prison-train-electricity-cryptocurrency-energy-environment-a8577791.html)

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