[Russian Miners Disguise Mining Farms as Chicken Coops, Scale May Exceed 8,000 Sites] BlockBeats News, April 14, according to a report by DL News, the energy supplier Irkutskenergosbyt in Russia's Irkutsk region stated that approximately 8,000 suspected illegal crypto mining sites have been discovered, and noted that 'the actual number of violators is far higher than this.' Local officials revealed that miners have disguised their high-energy-consuming mining farms as chicken coops, greenhouses, paper mills, gas stations, and even forests to conceal their operations. Some residents attributed the high electricity consumption to charging electric vehicles or heating chicken coops, while others claimed it was for 'drying construction timber' (despite the houses being vacant), which ultimately 'dried up' electricity bills amounting to $12,000. This region is a hotspot for Bitcoin mining in Russia, with cheap electricity attracting a large number of miners. However, illegal mining has overwhelmed the local power grid, causing frequent outages. Investigations are still ongoing.