![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-12t110048z-220359884-rc28fnaz7vbl-rtrmadp-3-mexico-crypto.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTLAOLA, Mexico, Sept 12Reuters\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n Nestled in the lush green mountains of Central Mexico, next to a sparsely traveled gravel road, few people had reason to wander close \u200benough to hear the loud, mechanical whirring of a clandestine cryptocurrency farm.\n <\/p>\n
\n What led police to the ramshackle building, suspected of mining virtual coins to \u200claunder illicit funds, was not only the noise but the vast amount of electricity needed to power and cool hundreds of specialized computing units, at levels far surpassing the needs of the small communities scattered around the Sierra Norte region of Puebla state.\n <\/p>\n
\n Crypto mining \u2014 which uses powerful computers to generate virtual assets such as bitcoin \u2014 represents a new frontier in Mexico\u2019s fight against organized criminal groups, which have extended \u200btheir reach beyond drug trafficking and extortion into the murkier realm of financial crime.\n <\/p>\n
\n In Puebla, authorities discovered 300 graphics processing units (GPUs), 80 medium-voltage terminals and eight \u200bsatellite antennae \u2014 all geared to compete against millions of other machines to solve puzzles and create valuable new crypto coins.\n <\/p>\n
\n While a relatively \u2060modest operation by international commercial standards, it is the fourth such crypto farm uncovered in the area since early last year.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cDrug cartels appear to have reached a new \u200blevel of sophistication,\u201d said David Saucedo, a Mexico-based security analyst, adding that setting up such an operation would have required technical expertise and backing from a well-financed group, such as \u200bone of Mexico\u2019s most powerful cartels.\n <\/p>\n
\n Mexico\u2019s federal attorney\u2019s office declined to comment, citing an active investigation.\n <\/p>\n
\n Globally, illicit cryptocurrency transactions more than doubled in 2025, with addresses linked to criminal activity receiving an estimated $154 billion, up from $59 billion a year earlier, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which analyzed transaction volumes sent to illicit wallet addresses.\n <\/p>\n
\n Chainalysis attributed much of the increase to a surge in \u200btransactions linked to sanctions evasion, including payments involving sanctioned governments.\n <\/p>\n
\n As more people and institutions worldwide adopt virtual currency, most within the confines of the law, Latin American cartels are \u200bamong those increasingly using crypto transfers and mining operations to launder money, said Caio Motta, the firm\u2019s Latin American specialist.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThese locations will have very cheap electricity, or be in an area under \u200cthe influence \u2060of organized crime so they\u2019re able to steal electricity and establish a large infrastructure to mine cryptocurrency,\u201d Motta said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Electricity is the biggest cost for mining crypto, as energy prices have increased and the process of minting a single unit of virtual currency has become more resource-intensive.\n <\/p>\n
\n The University of Cambridge\u2019s Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates the cost of minting one bitcoin \u2014 the most widely used cryptocurrency \u2014 at nearly $45,000. This would still bring a substantial profit when sold at current prices of around $78,000.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf they were stealing the electricity, the main costs \u200bof the operation would be, well \u2014 nothing,\u201d said \u200bSamuel Leon, an expert in energy \u2060theft at Mexico\u2019s Iberoamericana University, referring to the Puebla operation.\n <\/p>\n
\n Mexican authorities said they are investigating whether the crypto farm was stealing electricity from a nearby hydroelectric dam.\n <\/p>\n
\n The bushy forests and scattered communities of the Sierra Norte, where the Puebla crypto \u200bfarm was found, made for an ideal hiding spot.\n <\/p>\n
\n Two people living in neighboring communities, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, \u200btold Reuters that the \u2060whirring noise could be heard one kilometer (0.6 mile) away. The crypto farm was located approximately twice that distance from the nearest village.\n <\/p>\n
\n Three other similar crypto farms were found last year in the vicinity of the nearby hydroelectric dam in northern Puebla. Local authorities said they are collaborating with nearby states to investigate the possibility of more hidden operations.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Similar raids have taken place \u2060in Brazil, the \u200bUS and Southeast Asia, including a major bitcoin mining operation in Thailand that spanned five provinces.\n <\/p>\n
\n According to \u200bMotta of Chainalysis, rising global cryptocurrency use will likely push crypto-related crime to new records in the years ahead, as virtual currencies become more accessible even as investigators improve their ability to trace online transactions.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cLaw enforcement \u200bagencies are becoming far more equipped to fight organized crime using cryptocurrency,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TLAOLA, Mexico, Sept 12Reuters\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Nestled in the lush green mountains of Central Mexico, next to a sparsely traveled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-601289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}