Mexico seizes 300 crypto mining rigs illegally wired into hydroelectric dam

Mexican authorities, including the Navy and Puebla state police, raided an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation in Tlaola, seizing 300 GPU mining rigs, transformers, and satellite antennas. The facility illegally drew power from a federal hydroelectric complex fed by the Nuevo Necaxa dam. While mining is legal, prosecutors are preparing electricity theft charges, and forensic accountants are investigating potential money laundering. The raid highlights a broader regional network exploiting energy infrastructure.

Tlaola crypto mining raid

• ▪Puebla State Security Minister Francisco Sánchez stated that the high energy consumption and noise generated by the Tlaola mining operation alerted authorities to its remote location.
• ▪Alongside the 300 crypto mining rigs, authorities in Tlaola seized transformers, medium-voltage terminals, and working satellite internet antennas.
• ▪Mexican federal prosecutors, the Navy, and Puebla state police seized 300 crypto mining rigs from a property in Tlaola, Puebla, during a joint raid.
• ▪The seized mining machines in Tlaola were identified as graphics processing units (GPUs), suggesting they were used to mine cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.

Hydroelectric power theft

• ▪Three other illegal crypto mining operations were dismantled in Puebla and Tlaxcala in 2025, including one near the Nuevo Necaxa dam allegedly run from electrical workers' union properties.
• ▪Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission reported non-technical losses from theft, meter tampering, and illegal connections totaling 6,346 gigawatt hours, worth approximately 13.8 billion pesos ($817 million), between January and July 2024.
• ▪The seized crypto mining operation in Tlaola illegally drew electricity from a federal hydroelectric complex fed by the Nuevo Necaxa dam.
• ▪Puebla State Security Minister Francisco Sánchez described the Tlaola site as part of a larger network exploiting the Sierra Norte's hydroelectric infrastructure across multiple states.
• ▪Mexican prosecutors are preparing charges of electricity theft against the operators of the Tlaola crypto mining site, although cryptocurrency mining itself is legal in Mexico.

Money laundering investigation

• ▪Forensic accountants and the Puebla state government are investigating whether the assets produced at the Tlaola crypto mining site were used to launder proceeds of crime.
• ▪Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission is participating in the ongoing investigation into the Tlaola crypto mining operation and its illegal power connections.

Global mining theft crackdowns

• ▪Malaysian authorities seized more than 75,000 crypto mining rigs in 2025 over power theft valued at $1.1 billion.
• ▪Brazilian police shut down an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation in Rio de Janeiro prior to September 2026 as part of global crackdowns on electricity theft.