A Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur in Inner Mongolia has reportedly lost millions after nearly 200 stray cats looking for warmth radiating from mining video cards spoiled equipment in his workshop.
According to the StoryTime page on Facebook, the cats were found snuggling inside a private mining facility in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Employees told reporters that the stray cats appeared near the facility during the cold season in early October, looking for shelter and heat from the running mining machines. Within weeks, the number of cats had multiplied to around 200, transforming the crypto mining centre into an unintended feline sanctuary.
Every time the animals slept on top of the machines, the graphics cards’ output was strained. This lowered hash rates and required expensive hardware upgrades.
“It’s cute and touching, but these ‘beds’ literally cost us millions of dollars,” one employee told StoryTime, explaining that the animals’ presence caused overheating.
Mining rigs turned into a cat inn
The farm’s owner, described by workers as a lifelong animal lover, decided to accommodate them. “Luckily, the man who owns these machines is a cat guy,” said one worker. “He bought over 200 heating mats, and we’ve been instructed to put them in a separate room for the cats.”
The impromptu shelter was set up adjacent to the main mining hall, complete with insulated walls and bedding to keep the cats warm. “I find it so beautiful that, of all animals that could have sabotaged crypto nonsense, it had to be cats. The backbone of internet culture,” said one X user.
finally, a decent use for crypto pic.twitter.com/3FMbvj1XUD
— horse dentist (@equine__dentist) November 10, 2025
Per stats from Coinwarz, the Bitcoin network’s current mining difficulty clocked 155.97 trillion hashes per second (155.97 T), so miners must perform roughly 155.97 trillion hash computations on average to find a block. Mining rigs use electric power between 1.5-3.3 kilowatts each, which equates to around 54-82 °C of heat emitted, just about the amount dozens of cats need to beat the 0-16 °C Inner Mongolia cold weather.
Despite the damage, workers say the cats are now well cared for and have become a permanent feature of the site. “They’re part of the family now. The mining rigs may be quieter, but at least the cats are warm,” one technician reckoned.
Mining in a region where it is banned
Cryptocurrency mining was officially banned in Inner Mongolia in 2021, when the region’s Development and Reform Commission declared a crackdown on crypto mining and related digital asset operations. According to Reuters, the commission said violators could face license revocations and social credit penalties if found participating or helping in mining operations.
Inner Mongolia was once a global powerhouse for Bitcoin mining, accounting for nearly 8% of worldwide hash power at the time, per the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.
However, Beijing’s push for carbon neutrality and financial risk control led to restrictions around Mainland China and Inner Mongolia. The Chinese government sent a stern warning to crypto-mining telecommunications and internet firms, and new digital coin projects were explicitly banned.
China’s State Council, led by Vice Premier Liu He, vowed to “resolutely prevent and control financial risks” from digital currencies. Inner Mongolia, responding to the directive, pledged to “clean up” its mining sector to purify the big data industry.
China and the US Bitcoin hack blame game
The cat incident comes against the backdrop of tensions between China and the United States over digital assets and cybersecurity earlier this week. Beijing’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre accused Washington of orchestrating a massive Bitcoin theft from a Chinese-linked mining pool known as LuBian.
According to Chinese officials, cited by Cryptopolitan, American state-backed hackers allegedly stole 127,272 Bitcoin, worth approximately $13 billion, from LuBian in December 2020. The agency claimed a “state-level hacker operation” came from the US government, and that US authorities later confiscated the stolen tokens in a separate money-laundering case involving Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi.
The US Department of Justice evidently filed a civil forfeiture case to seize the 127,271 Bitcoin, but declined to explain how it gained control of the tokens.
