40-year-old Christopher Renkin from Washington state pleaded guilty to unauthorized access to computers at a Bitcoin mining company and theft of cryptocurrency. He redirected about 100 devices to his own mining pool and appropriated 1.0668 $BTC.
Case Details
In July 2021, Renkin began working at a Bitcoin mining company in Niagara Falls, New York. The company used mining pools to mine Bitcoins.
According to the prosecution, Renkin gained unauthorized access to approximately 100 of the company's computers. He manually rebooted the devices and redirected them to a mining pool he had created.
Subsequently, the Bitcoins mined using the company's computing power went to the fraudulent pool. Renkin then transferred them to cryptocurrency wallets under his control.
In addition to redirecting the mining power, Renkin switched the computers to "high-performance" mode. According to the prosecution, this damaged the equipment, significantly reducing its lifespan. These actions also compromised the integrity and availability of information stored on the computers.
As a result, the company lost 1.06 $BTC. At the time of the crime, their value was $53,315. Renkin was found guilty of transmitting a program, information, code, or command to a protected computer and causing damage to it.
The maximum penalty for this offense is up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Christopher Renkin's sentence is scheduled to be announced on November 17, 2026, before United States Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer.
Recall that we previously reported that a solo miner with a $250 device mined a Bitcoin block and received over $200,000.
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