A look inside Tocorón, Venezuela's gang-run prison that mined bitcoin
Last week, the government of Venezuela sent 11,000 police officers and soldiers into Tocorón prison , notoriously run by the Tren de Aragua gang, and seized buckets of bullets, piles of machine gun ammo belts, sniper rifles, explosives, rocket launchers, grenades, and a small army of bitcoin miners. Backed by tanks and armoured vehicles, the prison was successfully stormed on Wednesday. As police and troops discovered, Venezuela’s most powerful gang has been attempting to make extra cash with rows upon rows of old Bitmain Antminers. It’s unclear how profitable the bitcoin mining operation was; old equipment aside, Venezuela has temporarily banned crypto mining. And while the country enjoys cheap, subsidised electricity, energy blackouts are frequent. #21Sep | Así quedó la cárcel de Tocorón tras la primera fase de la Operación Liberación Cacique Guaicaipuro, en el lugar hallaron hasta máquinas para minar criptomonedas. Video: RRSS pic.twitter.com/Nv26bsKhUo — Car...