A Chinese language cryptocurrency entrepreneur in Internal Mongolia has reportedly misplaced tens of millions after almost 200 stray cats in search of heat radiating from mining video playing cards spoiled gear in his workshop.
In keeping with the StoryTime web page on Fb, the cats had been discovered snuggling inside a personal mining facility within the Internal Mongolia Autonomous Area.
Workers instructed reporters that the stray cats appeared close to the ability through the chilly season in early October, in search of shelter and warmth from the operating mining machines. Inside weeks, the variety of cats had multiplied to round 200, reworking 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 tens of millions of {dollars},” one worker instructed StoryTime, explaining that the animals’ presence brought on overheating.
Mining rigs changed into 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,” mentioned 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 principle mining corridor, full with insulated partitions and bedding to maintain the cats heat. “I discover it so stunning that, of all animals that would have sabotaged crypto nonsense, it needed to be cats. The spine of web tradition,” mentioned one X person.
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 issue 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 in regards to the quantity dozens of cats have to beat the 0-16 °C Internal Mongolia chilly climate.
Regardless of the injury, staff say the cats are actually nicely cared for and have grow to be a everlasting function of the location. “They’re a part of the household now. The mining rigs could also be quieter, however at the very least the cats are heat,” one technician reckoned.
Mining in a area the place it’s banned
Cryptocurrency mining was formally banned in Internal Mongolia in 2021, when the area’s Improvement and Reform Fee declared a crackdown on crypto mining and associated digital asset operations. In keeping with Reuters, the fee mentioned violators might face license revocations and social credit score penalties if discovered taking part or serving to in mining operations.
Internal Mongolia was as soon as a world powerhouse for Bitcoin mining, accounting for almost 8% of worldwide hash energy on the time, per the Cambridge Bitcoin Electrical energy Consumption Index.
Nevertheless, Beijing’s push for carbon neutrality and monetary danger management led to restrictions round Mainland China and Internal Mongolia. The Chinese language authorities despatched a stern warning to crypto-mining telecommunications and web corporations, and new digital coin tasks had been explicitly banned.
China’s State Council, led by Vice Premier Liu He, vowed to “resolutely forestall and management monetary dangers” from digital currencies. Internal Mongolia, responding to the directive, pledged to “clear up” its mining sector to purify the massive knowledge trade.
China and the US Bitcoin hack blame recreation
The cat incident comes towards the backdrop of tensions between China and the USA over digital belongings and cybersecurity earlier this week. Beijing’s Nationwide Pc Virus Emergency Response Centre accused Washington of orchestrating an enormous Bitcoin theft from a Chinese language-linked mining pool generally known as LuBian.
In keeping with 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 elucidate the way it gained management of the tokens.
