Cartel Crypto Farm Raided in Mexico's Mountains

Crypto Mining Inside Mexico’s Cartel Economy

This was the fourth one. Police in the Sierra Norte of Puebla state have now uncovered four clandestine cryptocurrency mining operations in the same stretch of mountain country since early last year, and the latest raid produced the clearest picture yet of what organised crime is building up there. A ramshackle building beside a gravel road held 300 graphics processing units, 80 medium-voltage terminals and eight satellite antennae, all of it running around the clock.

Key Takeaways

• Investigators seized 300 GPUs, 80 medium-voltage terminals and eight satellite antennae at a site suspected of mining virtual coins to launder criminal proceeds.
• Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that addresses linked to criminal activity received about $154 billion in 2025, up from roughly $59 billion the year before.
• Authorities are investigating whether the operation drew power stolen from a nearby hydroelectric dam, which would erase the single largest cost of mining.

Two things gave the site away. The first was sound. Two residents of neighbouring communities, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said the mechanical whirring carried a full kilometre. The farm stood roughly twice that distance from the nearest village. The second was electricity. Hundreds of specialised computing units need power to run and more power to stay cool, and the draw far exceeded anything the scattered settlements of the region could plausibly consume.