Crypto farm in Mexican mountains puts spotlight on cartel funding

jimz

Yeah, how much of this came from the US government? Considering how little hardware has been auctioned versus how much has been subject to forfeiture in view of the DEA's long track record of creating the funding loop. Context: https://archive.org/details/a-20071-1 Raw data: https://www.forfeiture.gov/ xref https://cwsmarketing.com/ xref https://www.appleauctioneeringco.com/usmarshals

roenxi

> Nestled in the lush green mountains of Central Mexico, next to a sparsely traveled gravel road... The economics of this are deliciously surreal and in many ways slightly romantic. You have this dingy little shack-like construction out in the "lush green mountains", run by these lunatics of a Mexican persuasion, coordinating billions of dollars of international financial data in a reliable high-trust manner. I encourage everyone to look at the photo in the article and imagine a fat dude in a singlet sleeping on a hammock because that seems to be the vibe of the place. This is a real case of the truth being stranger than fiction. If I were reading about this sort of thing in a novel in the pre-crypto era it'd be a big building in a city or something. Maybe some dudes in suits. Sealed roads. Turns out it's going to be closer to an unwashed hermit sitting in their mountain cave spending the days meditating, fighting off snakes and tending to the server racks. Voila, high finance.

saejox

Could also have been some H200 selling inference on openrouter with stolen electricity.

pelagicAustral

Are they recruiting?

sonorous_sub

Reuters is paywalled now? Corruption, thy stench wafts ever further!

yieldcrv

> Crypto mining — which uses powerful computers to generate virtual assets such as bitcoin — represents a new frontier Slow. Crypto always has a predictable multi year time frame from dismissal to integration for leadership, or change in leadership Its - bitcoin specifically - is strangely built to co-opt human greed, even I look at the white paper and mining implementation So all roads lead to its security

Havoc

Surprised they're getting busted. Running covert farms like this seems like an excellent fit for cartels. You can do this in a distributed manner. Grid connections are hard to trace if you bribe/threaten the right people. Tempted to conclude that what they are busting must be the tip of the iceberg

derelicta

Damn it's getting harder and harder each day for the CIA to hide its dirty business.

pier25

Makes you wonder how many more sites like this there are. I lived somewhat near that area in those mountains and there could be dozens.

soramimo

Product market fit.