Russian authorities have arrested two employees at a top-secret nuclear research base for allegedly using its supercomputer to mine crypto-currencies.
According to news agencies in the country, the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre confirmed the arrests on Friday. But the reports did not indicate whether the employees had made any money from the alleged mining plot.
In mining, computers are used to solve mathematical problems to verify transactions and are rewarded in crypto-currency.
The research base, in the closed-off city of Sarov, 240 miles east of Moscow, is a research and development facility for nuclear weapons.
The base reportedly confirmed that criminal charges were brought against the employees, but the charges were not specified.
Bitcoin works using a system called the blockchain, a virtual ledger which keeps a record of all transactions ever made using the cryptocurrency.
The entire blockchain is storied across a vast number of ‘nodes’ around the world and constantly updated.
Transactions must be recorded on the blockchain by cracking complex mathematical puzzles.
The process of solving these cryptographic conundrums is called ‘mining’ because the person whose computer cracks them is paid a number of Bitcoins.
Mining requires huge computing power, which means computers are at risk of overheating and potentially bursting into flames.
(Metro)
source http://punchng.com/scientists-arrested-for-mining-crypto-currencies-at-top-secret-base/
No comments:
Post a Comment