A 27-year-old Canyon Country man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing Bitcoin mining computers worth an estimated $579,000, Los Angeles police reported Tuesday.
Bryan Thola allegedly had the stolen computers in his van and a public storage unit, according to an LAPD news release. He was booked into the LAPD’s Van Nuys Jail on Thursday and released on his own recognizance the next day, inmate records show.
Photos released by the LAPD show stacks of computers piled in a van and in a storage unit.
Los Angeles Police Department
Such devices are part of a broader global network of powerful computers that run Bitcoin’s code to verify transactions and record them on the cryptocurrency’s blockchain — a process that involves solving complex algorithms to record a new series of transactions, called a block, Forbes reports. Computers compete to add blocks to the chain, and miners are paid per block.
“The mining, or transaction processing, is done by incredibly expensive and powerful computers whose sole function is to run algorithms to solve the mathematical problem that allows the owner to mine a Bitcoin block — and the revenue that comes with it,” Richard Baker, CEO of miner and blockchain service provider TAAL Distributed Information Technologies, told Forbes.
It is unclear how the LAPD obtained the suspected stolen computers.
Police have not released any further details while the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information can call the LAPD’s Commercial Crimes Division at 213-486-5920 between the hours of 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. After hours and on weekends, the division can be reached at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247). Those wishing to remain anonymous can call LA Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or visit LAPDOnline.org and click on “webtips.”
