The Seoul Arts Center Almost Became a "Coin Hall"... Employee Caught Secretly Mining Cryptocurrency

A panoramic view of the Seoul Arts Center. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] A staff member in their 30s affiliated with the Seoul Arts Center was caught after secretly installing cryptocurrency mining machines in the basement of the company building. 'Mining' refers to earning cryptocurrency by running specific computational programs on a computer, similar to mining gold in a mine.

According to the Seoul Arts Center and the office of Jeon Yong-gi, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee from the Democratic Party, Mr. A, a staff member in his 30s working in the electrical room, secretly installed two computers, eleven graphics cards, and one circulator (air circulator) for cooling the devices in the basement space for 48 days from November last year to January this year. During this period, he mined a total of 638,000 KRW.

Mr. A reportedly explained that he placed two Ethereum mining machines, which he had kept at home, in the basement electrical room of the Calligraphy Museum in October last year with the intention of selling them. However, when the cryptocurrency prices surged at the end of last year, he operated the mining machines to generate profit.

The power was connected directly from the distribution board inside the electrical room, and the monitor used was taken from the Seoul Arts Center's equipment. It is known that the internet was accessed via wireless tethering from Mr. A's personal mobile phone.

Traces of cryptocurrency mining found in the underground electrical room of the Seoul Arts Center. Photo by Jeon Yong-gi, Office of Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker.

This space is mainly accessed only by electrical room staff and lacks internal closed-circuit television (CCTV), which allowed the mining operation to be conducted discreetly. It was investigated that the electricity cost due to Mr. A's mining operation amounted to about 300,000 KRW.

The Seoul Arts Center imposed a severe disciplinary action of two months' suspension on Mr. A for unauthorized use of company property and electricity, and also reclaimed the 300,000 KRW electricity fee that Mr. A used without permission.