A Chinese language cryptocurrency entrepreneur in Interior Mongolia has reportedly misplaced thousands and thousands after almost 200 stray cats in search of heat radiating from mining video playing cards spoiled gear in his workshop.
In response to the StoryTime web page on Fb, the cats have been discovered snuggling inside a non-public mining facility within the Interior Mongolia Autonomous Area.
Workers instructed reporters that the stray cats appeared close to the ability in the course of the chilly season in early October, in search of shelter and warmth from the working mining machines. Inside weeks, the variety of cats had multiplied to round 200, remodeling the crypto mining centre into an unintended feline sanctuary.
Each time the animals slept on high of the machines, the graphics playing cards’ output was strained. This lowered hash charges and required costly {hardware} upgrades.
“It’s cute and touching, however these ‘beds’ actually value us thousands and thousands of {dollars},” one worker instructed StoryTime, explaining that the animals’ presence triggered overheating.
Mining rigs became a cat inn
The farm’s proprietor, described by staff as a lifelong animal lover, determined to accommodate them. “Fortunately, the person who owns these machines is a cat man,” stated one employee. “He purchased over 200 heating mats, and we’ve been instructed to place them in a separate room for the cats.”
The impromptu shelter was arrange adjoining to the primary mining corridor, full with insulated partitions and bedding to maintain the cats heat. “I discover it so stunning that, of all animals that might have sabotaged crypto nonsense, it needed to be cats. The spine of web tradition,” stated one X consumer.
lastly, a good use for crypto pic.twitter.com/3FMbvj1XUD
— horse dentist (@equine__dentist) November 10, 2025
Per stats from Coinwarz, the Bitcoin community’s present mining problem clocked 155.97 trillion hashes per second (155.97 T), so miners should carry out roughly 155.97 trillion hash computations on common to discover a block. Mining rigs use electrical energy between 1.5-3.3 kilowatts every, which equates to round 54-82 °C of warmth emitted, simply concerning the quantity dozens of cats must beat the 0-16 °C Interior Mongolia chilly climate.
Regardless of the injury, staff say the cats at the moment are effectively cared for and have grow to be a everlasting characteristic of the positioning. “They’re a part of the household now. The mining rigs could also be quieter, however no less than the cats are heat,” one technician reckoned.
Mining in a area the place it’s banned
Cryptocurrency mining was formally banned in Interior Mongolia in 2021, when the area’s Growth and Reform Fee declared a crackdown on crypto mining and associated digital asset operations. In response to Reuters, the fee stated violators may face license revocations and social credit score penalties if discovered collaborating or serving to in mining operations.
Interior Mongolia was as soon as a worldwide powerhouse for Bitcoin mining, accounting for almost 8% of worldwide hash energy on the time, per the Cambridge Bitcoin Electrical energy Consumption Index.
Nonetheless, Beijing’s push for carbon neutrality and monetary danger management led to restrictions round Mainland China and Interior Mongolia. The Chinese language authorities despatched a stern warning to crypto-mining telecommunications and web companies, and new digital coin tasks have been explicitly banned.
China’s State Council, led by Vice Premier Liu He, vowed to “resolutely stop and management monetary dangers” from digital currencies. Interior Mongolia, responding to the directive, pledged to “clear up” its mining sector to purify the large knowledge business.
China and the US Bitcoin hack blame sport
The cat incident comes in opposition to the backdrop of tensions between China and the US over digital belongings and cybersecurity earlier this week. Beijing’s Nationwide Laptop Virus Emergency Response Centre accused Washington of orchestrating an enormous Bitcoin theft from a Chinese language-linked mining pool often known as LuBian.
In response to Chinese language officers, cited by Cryptopolitan, American state-backed hackers allegedly stole 127,272 Bitcoin, price roughly $13 billion, from LuBian in December 2020. The company claimed a “state-level hacker operation” got here from the US authorities, and that US authorities later confiscated the stolen tokens in a separate money-laundering case involving Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi.
The US Division of Justice evidently filed a civil forfeiture case to grab the 127,271 Bitcoin, however declined to clarify the way it gained management of the tokens.
