‘New level of sophistication’: Hidden crypto farm discovered in remote Mexican mountains

Tlaola, Mexico: F ew people had reason to wander close enough to hear the loud, mechanical whirring of a clandestine cryptocurrency farm nestled in the lush green mountains of central Mexico, next to a sparsely travelled gravel road.

What led police to the ramshackle building, suspected of mining virtual coins to launder illicit funds, was not only the noise but the vast amount of electricity needed to power and cool hundreds of specialised computing units, at levels far surpassing the needs of the small communities scattered around the Sierra Norte region of Puebla state.

Crypto mining — which uses powerful computers to generate virtual assets such as bitcoin — represents a new frontier in Mexico’s fight against organised criminal groups, which have extended their reach beyond drug trafficking and extortion into the murkier realm of financial crime.

In Puebla, authorities discovered 300 graphics processing units (GPUs), 80 medium-voltage terminals and eight satellite antennae — all geared to compete against millions of other machines to solve puzzles and create valuable new crypto coins.

While a relatively modest operation by international commercial standards, it is the fourth such crypto farm uncovered in the area since early last year.

“Drug cartels appear to have reached a new level of sophistication,” said David Saucedo, a Mexico-based security analyst, adding that setting up such an operation would have required technical expertise and backing from a well-financed group such as one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels.

Mexico’s federal attorney’s office declined to comment, citing an active investigation.

Globally, illicit cryptocurrency transactions more than doubled in 2025, with addresses linked to criminal activity receiving an estimated $US154 billion ($214.8 billion), up from $US59 billion a year earlier, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which analysed transaction volumes sent to illicit wallet addresses.

Chainalysis attributed much of the increase to a surge in transactions linked to sanctions evasion, including payments involving sanctioned governments.

As more people and institutions worldwide adopt virtual currency, most within the confines of the law, Latin American cartels are among those increasingly using crypto transfers and mining operations to launder money, said Caio Motta, the firm’s Latin American specialist.

“These locations will have very cheap electricity, or be in an area under the influence of organised crime so they’re able to steal electricity and establish a large infrastructure to mine cryptocurrency,” Motta said.

Electricity is the biggest cost for mining crypto as energy prices have increased and the process of minting a single unit of virtual currency has become more resource-intensive.

The University of Cambridge’s Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates the cost of minting one bitcoin — the most widely used cryptocurrency — at nearly $US45,000.