A public utility in one of the U.S. hot spots for bitcoin mining is adopting new security measures in light of harassment of some of its employees.
The steps are being taken by the Chelan County Public Utility District in Washington County - as previously reported, the area has attracted a number of bitcoin miners because of its abundant access to hydropower sources.
"Confrontations" between staffers and would-be mine operators, as first reported by The Wenatchee World, has sparked a drive to add new cameras, install security panels and institute other actions.
On Monday, Chelan County PUD director of corporate security Rich Hyatt briefed the district's commissioners during a meeting, attributing the moves to "Belligerent behavior by impatient cryptocurrency miners" who are reacting poorly following a moratorium imposed on new bitcoin mines.
"Some of the things we're doing internally, we've got a lot of business security measures, at we've [installed] a lot of security panels, we've increased the camera coverage. We've also designed and are going into the construction phase for a very small store front lobby that would give employees a lot more security without having personnel or customers being able to walk right into their work area. We're monitoring those areas."
He also described new measures being taken to dissuade unauthorized bitcoin miners from setting up facilities, saying his office was making agreements with the chief of police, the county sheriff and the county prosecutor to investigate and potentially prosecute repeat offenders.
"We ... have an agreement with those agencies that we could use [them] as the mechanism that when we prepare a case and gather the evidence and establish probable cause, we can take that case through their detectives and that can help the county for prosecution considerations," he said.
The agency has also trained its personnel on how to deal with potentially hostile people by installing panic buttons for front-line staff and adding security officers able to spot "Negative body language," he said.
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies.
CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.
'Belligerent' Crypto Miners Prompt Power Utility to Beef Up Security
Published on May 3, 2018
by Coindesk | Published on Coinage
Coinage
Recent News
View All
Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Run, Uniswap's Hemorrhaging Value, Anchorage's Banking Bid
Bitcoin is nearing all-time highs in price and market cap last set three years ago.
Japan's megabanks to lead experiment with digital yen
We have, in order, Cheese Bank with a $3.3 million theft, Akropolis with its $2 million loss, Value DeFi with a whopping $6 million exploit and finally Origin Protocol's loss of $7 million.
Number of new Bitcoin addresses spikes amid growing FOMO
Japan's three largest banks, as part of a group of 30 private sector actors, are set to collaborate on an experiment with a digital yen.
Not just Wall Street: Quant trader explains why Bitcoin price is going up
Sam Trabucco, a quantitative trader at Alameda Research, believes four general factors are pushing up the price of Bitcoin.