Thailand Expands Crypto Mining Probe Into $300M Chinese Laundering Network

Thailand’s top investigative agency is expanding a crackdown on illegal crypto mining, which it says also serves as a money laundering machine for China-linked crime syndicates.

The Department of Special Investigation said Friday it has expanded its probe into a network of “grey” Chinese capital, a term for illicit funds moved through legitimate-seeming channels linked to illegal mining and transnational money laundering, with financial flows exceeding 10 billion baht ($300 million) a year, according to a DSI press release.

The case stemmed from 2025 raids in which the DSI’s Technology and Cyber ​​Crime Bureau dismantled three mining networks accused of stealing electricity to run their facilities. Authorities seized more than 6,390 machines and estimated damage to the state-run Provincial Electricity Authority at more than 953 million baht, about $29 million, one of the largest utility thefts in recent history.

Researchers participation The mining operations served as a hub for laundering proceeds from call center scams and online gambling, recruiting Myanmar nationals to withdraw 30 million to 50 million baht, about $920,000 to $1.5 million, in cash from Thai banks every day.

The DSI has issued arrest warrants for eight suspects, including four Chinese financiers and four Myanmar nationals, and is seeking seven other suspects while summoning five other people for charges.

One key figure, named by the DSI as Wang Yicheng, is a suspect in a major digital asset fraud case flagged by US law enforcement authorities. The US Secret Service has seized more than US$17.8 million (about 620 million baht) worth of crypto linked to it, linked to losses of more than 2 billion baht.

Wang, a businessman from Bangkok, had already come under American criticism: the Secret Service previously tracked funds from an American fraud victim to a crypto account in his name, which was linked by the authorities to a ‘pig slaughterhouse’.

The investigation has also ensnared Thai officials. The DSI has referred two cases to the National Anti-Corruption Commission involving seven Electricity Authority officials, a law enforcement officer and 13 investors or alleged accomplices accused of helping the miners in tapping power and evading detection.

The expansion builds on a series of raids that began last December, when the DSI seized 3,642 drilling rigs worth $8.6 million from sites linked to Chinese scam networks operating out of Myanmar.

The crackdown reflects a broader Southeast Asian push against crypto-linked power theft. Malaysia’s state-owned utility has reported about $1.1 billion in stolen electricity over the past five years, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has warned that transnational gangs are increasingly using illegal crypto mining to launder billions.