A group of Russian nuclear scientists was arrested Friday by the secret services after having mined bitcoins during working hours. They would have used the supercomputers of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center in the city of Sarov.
The BBC and Bloomberg report this on the basis of Russian media. The core scientists ran into the light when the computers tried to connect to the internet. To prevent cyber attacks and to keep hackers out of doors, this is not the intention.
Birthplace of the atomic tree
The nuclear research center in Sarov is seen as the birthplace of the Russian nuclear weapons program. Here in 1949 the first Soviet atom bomb was developed, which was detonated in the summer of that year in present-day Kazakhstan.
The complex is still top secret. During the Cold War (1945-1991) the city, some 500 kilometers east of Moscow, was not mentioned on the topographical maps for a long time. Nowadays there is also a museum, where you can see the Tsar Bomba. This atomic bomb is still in the books as the most powerful man-made explosion ever.
Heavy calculations
To keep the network behind a crypto as the bitcoin running, computers work together all over the world. These computers process all transactions and perform heavy calculations. In exchange for the work and the investment the miners get a bit bitcoin.
In the early days of the bitcoin you could let your normal desktop or laptop do the work. But the calculations have become so heavy that it is only profitable to mine with specific equipment. The supercomputers of research institutes such as the Russian Federal Nuclear Center are extremely suitable for this.
