The Indiana police, (USA) recovered nearly R$ 4 million in Bitcoin mining equipment and R$ 400 thousand in frozen turkeys.

nov 02, 2025

The Indiana police, USA, recovered 1,000 Bitcoin mining machines stolen from a hijacked shipment in a truck in the Grant County area earlier this month — and in an unusual turn of events, also prevented the theft of $75,000 (R$ 400,000) in frozen turkeys during the same investigation.

The mining equipment, valued at around $700,000 (R$ approximately 3.8 million ), belonged to the company Your Choice Best Ever, a cryptocurrency mining firm with operations in the state. The company reported the theft on October 2, but did not respond to Decrypt's requests for comment on a possible connection to the stolen turkeys.

In a Facebook post on Monday (27), the Grant County Sheriff's Department reported that detectives tracked the stolen shipment to the Chicago area and coordinated the recovery of the machines last week. No arrests have been made so far, but the investigation involves "international criminal participants."

Local residents found humor in the unlikely combination of Bitcoin miners and frozen turkeys. Comments on social media made puns about the police "devouring the accusations" and jokes suggesting that the frozen birds could help cool down the overheating servers.

After the ban on cryptocurrency mining in China in 2021, several operations migrated to regions like the Midwest of the United States. At the time, China dominated the sector, accounting for more than three-quarters of global Bitcoin mining.

The ban forced miners to spread around the world, boosting new hubs in the US and other regions. According to an article published this year in Nature magazine, the United States now accounts for 38% of global mining.

"The main mining hubs today are Texas, parts of the American Midwest, the Nordic region, the Caucasus, and increasingly, Latin America," said Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer of Komodo Platform, to Decrypt. "Basically, anywhere with cheap, stable, and often renewable energy."

The company Your Choice Best Ever, owner of the stolen machines, follows the pattern of mining companies originally based in China that expanded abroad after the ban. Founded in 2014, it operated mining facilities in Sichuan, Xinjiang, and Yunnan before moving. The company's website — apparently not updated for years — states that it now has units in Indiana and Mississippi.

The rapid growth of these operations, however, has sparked debate in local communities. Critics point to high energy consumption and noise pollution as the main problems, while supporters highlight job creation, investments, and tax revenue.

"Some concerns are absolutely valid," Stadelmann said. "The industry has not always been transparent about its energy matrix or its impact on communities."

For him, the sector needs to abandon isolation and demonstrate concrete benefits, such as job creation, taxes, and support for renewable energy projects. "The answer is not to deny the problems, but to adopt transparency and innovation," he concluded.