In short
- Malaysian authorities have seized greater than 75,000 crypto mining machines in over 3,000 raids between 2022 and Could 2026, the Deputy Residence Minister informed parliament.
- The operations, run with nationwide utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad and the police, led to 629 arrests, he stated.
- Crypto buying and selling is authorized in Malaysia, however mining that depends on stolen electrical energy, tampered meters or unlicensed setups will not be.
Malaysian authorities have seized greater than 75,000 cryptocurrency mining machines in over 3,000 raids nationwide between 2022 and Could 2026, Deputy Residence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar informed parliament on Wednesday, in keeping with state information company Bernama.
The seizures got here alongside 629 arrests in coordinated operations involving the Royal Malaysia Police, state utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and native authorities, he stated, responding to a query within the Dewan Rakyat, the decrease home of parliament.
Shamsul Anuar stated the Residence Ministry is increasing its enforcement method, leaning on intelligence gathering and know-how to flag doubtless hotspots earlier than shifting in so it will probably “reply sooner and take extra exact motion.” He attributed the persistence of unlawful mining to robust demand for digital belongings and the earnings obtainable from unstable token costs, whereas stressing that potential beneficial properties don’t excuse crimes resembling stealing electrical energy to chop operating prices.
Malaysia and crypto
Proudly owning and buying and selling crypto is permitted in Malaysia, although it isn’t acknowledged as authorized tender, Shamsul Anuar stated. Mining crosses into illegality when it depends on “unauthorised electrical energy connections, tampering with meters, disrupting energy provide programs or working with out the required licences,” he added.
The Securities Fee Malaysia regulates digital belongings, whereas the central financial institution, Financial institution Negara Malaysia, oversees monetary stability, funds and anti-money-laundering compliance.
The main target of the crackdown is on electrical energy theft fairly than crypto coverage. Mining rigs run across the clock and draw heavy, fixed hundreds, and operators regularly bypass or tamper with meters to cover the consumption, leaving utilities to catch the fraud solely when billed and precise utilization diverge.
Years of raids
The most recent tally extends a marketing campaign that has run for years. In late 2025, Malaysia’s vitality ministry linked round $1.1 billion in energy losses to some 14,000 unlawful mining websites uncovered over 5 years, and arrange a committee drawing on the finance ministry, Financial institution Negara and TNB to pursue offenders.
Enforcement has at occasions been theatrical. Police have on a couple of event crushed seized rigs with steamrollers, together with lots of of machines destroyed in 2024 and round 1,000 in a comparable operation in 2021.
Malaysia will not be alone within the area. Authorities elsewhere have mounted their very own crackdowns, from a multimillion-dollar mining operation dismantled in Thailand to arrests in Hong Kong over electrical energy siphoned to energy rigs.
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