A Japanese district court has, for the first time, sentenced a man to prison in a remote crypto mining case. The case follows the arrests of Coinhive users by the police in 10 prefectures. However, this case is different from previously discussed cases of mining cryptocurrencies using website visitors’ computers.
Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space
Jail Sentence in Remote Mining Case
On Monday, Japanese media reported that a man has received a one year prison sentence for using a remote mining tool to mine cryptocurrency using other people’s computers without their consent.
According to Nikkei, the Sendai District Court ruled on July 2, sentencing an unemployed 24-year old of the city of Amagasaki in Hyogo prefecture to one year in prison, with the sentence suspended for three years.
The Kahoku Shimpo publication elaborated:
The Sendai District Court ruled on an imprisonment sentence of 1 year, [with the] sentence suspended for 3 years…The judgment on mining abuse was the first in the whole country.
This news follows multiple other reports of the Japanese police cracking down on the use of remote mining tools where website visitors were not informed that their computers were being used to mine cryptocurrencies. Recently, the police in 10 prefectures nabbed 16 people and arrested three.
There is More to the Story
The articles by Nikkei and Kahoku do not mention the name of the remote mining tool used, or whether Coinhive was used specifically.
A source familiar with the matter explained to news.Bitcoin.com that this case involves the use of Coinhive in an online game cheat tool, instead of one installed on a website.
Kahoku detailed:
According to the judgment, he embedded a
