Southeast Asia's Crypto Mining Epidemic: Electricity Theft and Organized Crime on the Rise

Cryptocurrency mining has become a major issue in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia where authorities have discovered thousands of cases of electricity theft for illicit crypto operations.

A recent raid in the southern state of Johor exposed a syndicate using 71 machines to mine Bitcoin, bypassing meters and causing estimated losses of €14,500 ( $16,600) over about a month.

Between 2020 and 2025, Malaysia's national utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad identified nearly 14,000 premises linked to electricity theft for cryptocurrency mining, resulting in cumulative losses of around €1.1 billion.