Bitcoin (BTC) Mining Costs This Country So Much! “$1.1 Billion Vanished!”

An interesting incident regarding cryptocurrency mining occurred in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s national energy company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), reported losses of $1.1 billion due to electricity theft by cryptocurrency miners from 2020 to August 2025, Reuters reported.

The country’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources announced in a document sent to parliament that it had identified 13,827 workplaces that illegally leaked electricity for crypto mining between 2020 and August 2025.

This resulted in losses of at least 4.57 billion ringgit ($1.1 billion).

The ministry stated that the activity in question poses a serious threat to the national electricity supply system, public safety and the economic stability of the country.

It was stated that the theft usually occurs in the form of tampering with meters or making unauthorized connections to the network.

The ministry stated that it has been combating illegal crypto mining activities since 2018 to prevent rising electricity costs, and that TNB has created an internal database of property owners and tenants suspected of being involved in electricity theft and will now better identify and track suspicious locations.

Finally, the Ministry also stated that from a technical perspective, TNB is using smart meters and has launched a “Distribution Transformer Meter” pilot program to better monitor energy usage at energy substations and detect abnormal patterns.

*This is not investment advice.