In brief
- Approximately 1,000 Bitcoin mining machines stolen in Grant County, Indiana were recovered in the Chicago area.
- Authorities also thwarted a $75,000 frozen turkey theft during the same investigation.
- It comes as crypto mining continues to expand in the Midwest.
Police in Indiana have recovered 1,000 Bitcoin mining machines stolen from a hijacked shipment of cargo in a semi-trailer in Grant County earlier this month—and, in an unusual twist, also stopped the theft of $75,000 worth of frozen turkeys during the same investigation.
The mining devices, worth around $700,000, belonged to Your Choice Best Ever, a crypto mining firm with operations in the state. The company reported the theft on Oct. 2. It did not respond to requests for comment from Decrypt on whether it also had any connection to the purloined poultry.
In a Facebook post Monday, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office said detectives tracked the stolen shipment to the Chicago area, and coordinated the recovery of the mining rigs last week. No arrests have yet been made, but the investigation involves “international criminal participants.”
Locals found humor in the bizarre pairing of Bitcoin miners and frozen turkeys. Comments on social media ranged from puns about police “gobbling up the charges” to jokes about using the ice-cold turkeys to cool overheating servers.
Mining operations expanded into areas like the Midwest following a 2021 ban on mining in China. At its height, China dominated the Bitcoin mining industry, accounting for more than three-quarters of global activity—but the ban dispersed miners across the world, leading to new hubs in the U.S. and beyond. According to an article published earlier this year in Nature, the U.S. now accounts for 38% of global Bitcoin mining.
“Globally, the mining hotspots today are Texas, parts of the U.S. Midwest, the Nordic region, the Caucasus, and increasingly Latin America,” Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer at Komodo Platform, told Decrypt. “Anywhere with cheap, stable, and often renewable power.”
The company which owns the stolen machines, Your Choice Best Ever, is typical of the trend of China-based miners moving abroad. It once operated blockchain mining facilities in Sichuan, Xinjiang, and Yunnan in China before the mining ban. Founded in 2014, the company’s website, which seemingly hasn’t been updated in years, claims it now has mining sites in Indiana and Mississippi.
Yet the rapid rise of mining operations has stirred debate in communities where they are located. Opponents cite high energy consumption and noise pollution as major concerns, while supporters argue that mining brings jobs, investment, and tax revenue.
“Some concerns are absolutely valid,” Stadelmann previously told Decrypt. “The industry hasn’t always communicated well about its energy mix or community impact.”
He argued the key is to stop operating in isolation and start showing tangible local benefits like jobs, tax revenue, and support for renewable build-outs. “The answer isn’t denial, it’s transparency and innovation,” he said.
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