No, it is not allowed to mine bitcoins with Russian nuclear supercomputers. It seems that this has not been understood by some scientists at the Saros Federal Nuclear Research Center. Indeed, many of them would have been arrested after hijacking supercomputers in order to undermine bitcoin.
One of the most powerful supercomputers in Russia
According to Interfax and BBC, Russian scientists are accused of hijacking one of the most powerful Russian supercomputers in the federal nuclear research center of Saros. Founded in 1947, the institute is famous for being the place where the former Soviet Union produced its first nuclear bomb.
The mining of bitcoins would have alerted the security service of the research center. Indeed, it seems that these super computers, for security reasons are kept offline, but the mining process requiring an Internet connection, supercomputers have been connected to the internet. It is the energy consumption added to the "signal" of internet connection of supercomputers that would have alerted the security service of the site.
One of the representatives of the Scientific Research Institute for Experimental Physics reportedly
"There was an unauthorized attempt to use computer facilities for private purposes, including so-called mining"
FSB captures survey
The interfax and BBC reports indicate that anonymous scientists were handed over to the Federal Security Service (FSB) after the discovery. It also appears that scientists are likely to face criminal charges as a result of arrest and interrogation.
It seems that the case is taken very seriously, because in addition to the diversion of hardware, the connection of supercomputers to the Internet is a security risk, because usually these supercomputers are kept offline because of the delicate sector they serve, the nuclear.
One wonders if this general arrest and the sanction will appear exemplary, to dissuade the mining of cryptocurrencies or for real reasons of safety violated. Note also that other industrial facilities across the country would have been used to do crypto mining, and a businessman would have gone as far as buying two power plants for this purpose.
Sources: coindesk; CSNews || image from Shutterstock.com