US Government Bans Professor for Mining Bitcoin with A Supercomputer

[Ron~Popeil]

We now have proof that US Gov't computers are mining Bitcoin.
Let's make sure the Federal Reserve doesn't influence the Bitcoin Foundation to change the block rewards. 

Miners and the community as a whole would never allow it. That is why I believe bit coin has a long and bright future.

[lihuajkl]

It is wasting resource. CPU mining is not efficient as ASIC miner, I am sure he is able to afford some mining rig.

[Honeypot]

No one is pointing out the obvious fact that he was fooling around with workplace equipment for his own personal benefit? That super computer wasn't his. No one would have cared if you were mining coins with your own rig, but this fool was misusing workplace equipment.

Another dumbass who gives crypto a bad name. Who needs ebil US government to shut it down when crypto population is doing such a fine job of ruining their own prospects?

[Justin00]

exactly!
He was stealing power and resources from the school. I have no patiences for people like this.

I guess his job did not mean alot to him!

[TopherB]

It is wasting resource.

and the government fired him because that is their job.

[Justin00]

and now you american tax payers can pay him to sit around and do nothing

[jjc326]

The researcher misused over $150,000 in NSF-supported computer usage at two universities to generate bitcoins valued between $8,000 and $10,000.

I'm skeptical both that they claim it used $150k in electricity and that it was able to mine that much bitcoin.  Most supercomputers are just a lot of standard CPUs.  Even if it had GPUs in there (like Nvidia Tesla which is used in some supercomputers) I would think the hashrate would still be significantly lower than a couple ASIC miners (and well below the quoted $8-$10k over 6 days.

Wow he did it for only 6 days and got caught?  You'd think being one of the brightest supposedly he would come up with a better plan wouldn't you?  to avoid being caught I mean.

[Ron~Popeil]

The researcher misused over $150,000 in NSF-supported computer usage at two universities to generate bitcoins valued between $8,000 and $10,000.

I'm skeptical both that they claim it used $150k in electricity and that it was able to mine that much bitcoin.  Most supercomputers are just a lot of standard CPUs.  Even if it had GPUs in there (like Nvidia Tesla which is used in some supercomputers) I would think the hashrate would still be significantly lower than a couple ASIC miners (and well below the quoted $8-$10k over 6 days.

Wow he did it for only 6 days and got caught?  You'd think being one of the brightest supposedly he would come up with a better plan wouldn't you?  to avoid being caught I mean.

One would think so. Maybe that is why he was working for the government instead of in the private sector.

[JJB]

The researcher misused over $150,000 in NSF-supported computer usage at two universities to generate bitcoins valued between $8,000 and $10,000.

I'm skeptical both that they claim it used $150k in electricity and that it was able to mine that much bitcoin.  Most supercomputers are just a lot of standard CPUs.  Even if it had GPUs in there (like Nvidia Tesla which is used in some supercomputers) I would think the hashrate would still be significantly lower than a couple ASIC miners (and well below the quoted $8-$10k over 6 days.

Wow he did it for only 6 days and got caught?  You'd think being one of the brightest supposedly he would come up with a better plan wouldn't you?  to avoid being caught I mean.

One would think so. Maybe that is why he was working for the government instead of in the private sector.

I'm sure the geeks responsible for tech support noticed the bandwidth. They don't miss much those guys.

[bitsmichel]

The researcher misused over $150,000 in NSF-supported computer usage at two universities to generate bitcoins valued between $8,000 and $10,000.

I'm skeptical both that they claim it used $150k in electricity and that it was able to mine that much bitcoin.  Most supercomputers are just a lot of standard CPUs.  Even if it had GPUs in there (like Nvidia Tesla which is used in some supercomputers) I would think the hashrate would still be significantly lower than a couple ASIC miners (and well below the quoted $8-$10k over 6 days.

Wow he did it for only 6 days and got caught?  You'd think being one of the brightest supposedly he would come up with a better plan wouldn't you?  to avoid being caught I mean.

One would think so. Maybe that is why he was working for the government instead of in the private sector.

I'm sure the geeks responsible for tech support noticed the bandwidth. They don't miss much those guys.

I think he didn't expect to be caught on the super computer, or, perhaps it was an experiment 

[ebliever]

The researcher misused over $150,000 in NSF-supported computer usage at two universities to generate bitcoins valued between $8,000 and $10,000.

I'm skeptical both that they claim it used $150k in electricity and that it was able to mine that much bitcoin.  Most supercomputers are just a lot of standard CPUs.  Even if it had GPUs in there (like Nvidia Tesla which is used in some supercomputers) I would think the hashrate would still be significantly lower than a couple ASIC miners (and well below the quoted $8-$10k over 6 days.

Wow he did it for only 6 days and got caught?  You'd think being one of the brightest supposedly he would come up with a better plan wouldn't you?  to avoid being caught I mean.

One would think so. Maybe that is why he was working for the government instead of in the private sector.

I'm sure the geeks responsible for tech support noticed the bandwidth. They don't miss much those guys.

Do you mean CPU usage? Bandwidth use for mining is absolutely minimal in my experience. When I first started mining I was worried because I'm out in the boonies with only a Verizon hotspot for a connection and was limited to 4 GB/month. But it turns out that was no problem. Spending too much time in the Poloniex trollbox, however....

[CoolBliss]

"The researcher misused over $150,000 in NSF-supported computer usage at two universities to generate bitcoins valued between $8,000 and $10,000."

Hah! That's it?! That's like 15 btc, or $10,000 per btc mined.

[LostDutchman]

Because the government owns so many their self.  Wouldn't be surprised if they create it.  Either way bitcoin is run by greedy tyrants who do not value free speech.

Horseshit.

[mkc]

haha this make me laugh. I like it.

[Harley997]

This is a good thing.

This person essentially cheated and used someone else's equipment for his own benefit.

[keithers]

This is the first guy in the gov't to be publicly caught, but you can bet your ass that there are plenty more still flying under the radar...

[DrG]

If he was smart he would have stolen from the government like other employees and used the proceeds to fund his ill gotten BTC.  Unfortunately this professor in stuck on Gilligan's Island.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

This is the first guy in the gov't to be publicly caught, but you can bet your ass that there are plenty more still flying under the radar...

There was an article, I believe in 2012 that said some guy who was in charge of IT at a middle school was using like 50+ computers to CPU mine bitcoins. This was back when CPU mining was still viable.

[row5_seat47]

There was an article, I believe in 2012 that said some guy who was in charge of IT at a middle school was using like 50+ computers to CPU mine bitcoins. This was back when CPU mining was still viable.

I tried to find the article you referenced.

Perhaps you meant the Australian Broadcasting Company?

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/06/22/tips-and-rumours-481/

http://delimiter.com.au/2012/05/21/the-abc-didnt-sack-bitcoin-miner/

[ljudotina]

Using supercomputer to mine Bitcoin and get ban? Really? How unfair from government. Why wouldnt he user computer tht tax payers payed for his personal gain....