You’ve probably heard of Interpol, the global police organisation that goes after big-time criminals. Well, their latest target isn’t some drug lord or international spy. It’s a bunch of crypto miners.
Crypto miners use fancy computers to work out some hard maths and to validate crypto transactions, and they get crypto like Bitcoin for their troubles.
In a joint operation with Angolan authorities, Interpol went into the country and busted 25 illegal crypto mining centers.
Sixty Chinese nationals were arrested, and equipment worth US$37 million was seized. Think about that for a second. That’s a serious investment in hardware.
The reason for the crackdown is simple and something we know too well in Zimbabwe: power.
Crypto Mining Power Consumption
Crypto mining is ridiculously power-hungry. It’s like having thousands of computers running at full throttle, 24/7. You might not realise it but these high-end computers chew through electricity.
Estimates say Bitcoin mining’s annual energy consumption exceeds the annual electricity usage of countries, such as Argentina, Thailand, or Poland.
To bring it home, the entire Bitcoin network consumes approximately 10 to 12 times more electricity annually than the entire country of Zimbabwe. (8-10 million MWh vs 90-120 million MWh). And that’s just Bitcoin, before we factor in many other cryptos.
Neither Angola nor Zim Could Handle This
In a country like Angola, where power distribution is already a significant challenge, these operations were putting a massive strain on the national grid, causing outages and instability for ordinary citizens.
So, in April 2024, the Angolan government said enough is enough. They banned crypto mining, making it a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment and confiscation of equipment.
The authorities didn’t waste any time, and this raid is a direct result of that new law.
You know, with our deeper friendship with the Chinese which has led to some of them getting preferential treatment in Zimbabwe, I’m starting to wonder if we have massive crypto mining operations here too.
That’s because we are seeing a sustained consistency when it comes to power generation but the load shedding is getting worse. We might want to look at what Angola is doing cause our grid cannot handle it, if indeed it’s happening here too.
The Interpol crackdown, which was called Serengeti 2.0 wasn’t just in Angola. Interpol coordinated a major cybercrime operation across 18 African countries between June and August 2025.
It wasn’t just crypto miners they were targeting, but even those crypto scams we talked about before that promised massive returns for ‘investments.’
We were hit hard in Zim but we were not alone. In Zambiamore than 65,000 people were scammed of an “estimated $300 million through a fraudulent high-return cryptocurrency scam.”
All in all, 1,209 suspects across Africa were arrested and nearly $97.4 million was recovered.
Repurposing Computers
What’s really interesting is what happens next in Angola. The seized equipment, all that expensive mining gear, isn’t just going to sit in a police warehouse.
The Angolan government has announced plans to distribute it to “vulnerable communities.” So, they are taking the tools of a power-hungry, high-tech operation and repurposing them to benefit the people who were suffering because of them in the first place.
That seems to be a fair compensation to the Angolan people if you ask me.
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