Ukrainian PS4 Farm Was NOT Mining Cryptocurrency!

You may recall a story around a week ago that following a raid on an industrial unit in Ukraine, while authorities expected to find an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation (largely based on the fact that massive amounts of electricity was being stolen), what they discovered instead was 3,800 PS4 consoles all running away on masses of racks. While the initial presumption was that these systems had been modded to grind some form of coin, however, following a report via Eurogamer, it turns out that while that was technically correct, what these PS4 consoles were actually working on had absolutely nothing to do with cryptocurrency.

PS4 Mining Farm Was Grinding FIFA Accounts!

So, just in case the above image or heading didn’t give it away (which I sincerely hope it did), it turns out that rather than grinding away at Bitcoin or some other crypto-coin, these masses of PS4 systems were actually all geared up to create bot accounts for FIFA 21. The purpose of them being to grind away at earning the in-game currency or building ultimate teams that would then see the accounts sold on to people who want an instant leg-up in the game.

While this has not yet been categorically confirmed by Ukrainian authorities, eagle-eyed people spotted in the image below masses of disks seemingly ejected from the consoles (on the left side). And through a clever bit of photo enhancement, they have found that each disc was a copy of FIFA 20 or FIFA 21.

What Do We Think?

While we always knew that the PS4 would be an unideal bit of hardware to grind cryptocurrency on, we do know that it is possible and, as such, the initial conclusion that this was a mining farm, although proven incorrect, was not an illogical step to make based on the current trend in illegal operations of that regard. The fact that these were all set up to create fake FIFA accounts, however, clearly highlights just how much of a problem that game has with ‘pay to win’ mechanics. And, if not that, then the fact that there are people out there whose ‘needs’ clearly create an opportunity for facilities such as this.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!