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14 comments

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momentarily
Isn't it just theft of services?
hga
If someone is stealing electricity to mine Bitcoins, it's quite plausible he's doing other illegal acts like "money laundering"
trafficlight
If you are running a torrent client, you're probably downloading illegally.
berioutiy
If you are alive and breathing, you are probably violating some law already.
lucozade
The stealing of the electricity is theft. The money laundering is converting that electricity to a form i.e. Bitcoins, that can be washed through the financial system. So there are 2 separate crimes.
Zr40
This title is incorrect. 'Openbaar Ministerie' is the Dutch public prosecutor, not the police.
lowlevel
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me... it's certainly not the most efficient method.
adaml_623
By definition if you obtain any monetary benefit from a criminal act then it is Money Laundering. It encompasses a lot of different possible activities. Tax evasion is a crime but if you take that money and transfer it to an overseas account then that is money laundering.
return0
Money laundering is about legalizing stolen money, not the stealing itself.
fjcaetano
One could argue that anything stolen is money stolen
jamesbrownuhh
"Theft Of Electricity" (on the basis that a computer doing something for an unauthorised user would consume more electricity than if that user was not issuing commands) was one of the first offences used in the UK to prosecute computer hackers in the early 1980s, before specific hacking legislation was introduced.

Obviously, not a whole lot of electricity - fractions of a penny, at a time - but enough of a "wrongdoing" to get the case into court.

jacob_smith
Would this stand in the US where the IRS recently declared Bitcoin a possession and not currency?