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The thirst for cryptocurrency is real. Cryptocurrency mania is so fervent that Russian scientists at a top-secret nuclear warhead facility are using supercomputers to mine bitcoin. The nuclear scientists were smart enough to work at the Federal Nuclear Center in Sarov, western Russia, but were not smart enough to get away with mining for bitcoin while at work.
Russian engineers were caught redhanded using advanced work computers to mine bitcoin at the Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics. This institute is where the Soviet Union’s first atomic bomb was developed and was where famed physicist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrey Sakharov worked for 20 years. The center houses a supercomputer in a restricted area with high security. The security did not deter the employees from using the powerful government to make some extra coin.
Authorities were tipped off when the employees attempted to connect the supercomputer to the internet, which usually stays offline for obvious security reasons. The supercomputer boasts a capacity of 1 petaflop, the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second. The scientists were arrested and turned over to the Federal Security Service (FSB). The center issued a statement that said, “There has been an unsanctioned attempt to use computer facilities for private purposes including so-called mining.” On the bright side, at least the workers at the top secret government facility were only using supercomputers to mine bitcoin. It could have been worse, they could have orchestrated a heist of a highly classified aquatic creature and then have sex with it.
Mining for cryptocurrency requires a massive amount of energy. one website estimates that each Bitcoin transaction consumes 250kWh, enough to power homes for nine days, and it costs $9,483 to mine one bitcoin in Hawaii. With these vast energy consumption costs as well as the need for advanced hardware to handle the rigors and heat of constantly mining for cryptocurrency, it’s no wonder that these Russian scientists tried to get their hands on bitcoin on their employer’s dime.
[BBC]