Argentina Tax Officers Find $20m Worth of Crypto Mining Hardware on Livestock Farm

The tax body of Argentina is continuing its crackdown on unregistered crypto mining – and has swooped on a livestock and cereal farm to uncover some $20 million worth of coin-mining hardware.

In a government notice, the national tax authority, known locally as the AFIP, explained that the equipment was found in the premises of an “agricultural company dedicated to raising livestock and growing cereals.”

The AFIP explained that the farm was based in the province of Santa Fe, in the town of Reconquista. It added that the farm had “acquired 35 crypto mining rigs,” in addition to “video cards and motherboards that were going to be used to mine cryptocurrencies.”

However, it appears that the hardware had not yet been connected to the internet, so the farm operators may escape more severe forms of punishment. The farm operators are likely to face fines, however, and it does not appear that the hardware had been smuggled into the country.

The AFIP last month exhibited a haul of over 340 illegally imported mining rigs that were intercepted at one of country’s biggest ports. The rigs had been concealed inside shipping containers containing range of consumer goods.

More Illegal Crypto Miners Busted in Argentina

The AFIP added that it had also carried out another “operation” near Santa Fe on “a property” where electricity consumption had spiked by a whopping 800%.

Officers were dispatched to investigate and reportedly unearthed equipment including “96 video cards.” 

The AFIP stated that the hardware had “an estimated value of $14 million” and was being “used to mine cryptocurrencies.”

The property’s owner “had not declared any activity related to the [mining] of cryptoassets,” said the tax body. It added that it would issue the miner with “fines and corresponding tax adjustments.”

The AFIP has been searching nationwide for crypto miners who fail to register their operations in the past few months after ministers called for crypto-related tax reforms back in February this year.