On February 15, 2015, Viceland released a documentary titled, “Life Inside a Chinese Bitcoin Mine.”
The source can be found here: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/chinas-biggest-secret-bitcoin-mine
At the time of the Viceland segment (February 2015) The boss in the video (codenamed Hanzo) managed roughly 25 mines with a team of employees under him. He was mining up to 100 Bitcoins a day.
After the segment was released on Viceland TV ( a national US channel), he began to receive threats from the Chinese government. Hanzo told me they never officially identified themselves but told him to immediately cease his mining operations unless he preferred a Chinese style disappearance or prison for him and his family. He believes the visitors were most likely the Chinese secret police.
After this incident, Hanzo shut down most Chinese operations barring those that were not visited by Viceland’s cameras. He has since fled the country with his family but has not toned down his mining operations. In the nearly 2 years since the expose, he has greatly expanded his empire to more tolerant countries.
Here is the interview with Hanzo:
After months of correspondence, the man known as Hanzo has decided to grant me an interview about his ordeal with the Chinese government and his subsequent plans and living conditions for he and his family.
Q: How have you managed to keep such a low profile even after appearing on a TV segment?
A: After the taping I began to have second thoughts about whether it was the right decision to make my face public. We tried to petition Viceland to reconsider without success. They ran the footage anyway despite my protests. We have since relocated every bitcoin mine that was shown in the Viceland segment barring a select few. The cameramen captured potentially identifiable information by allowing a few shots outside, one of which showed a cluster of chemical exhaust pipes outfitted with carbon scrubbers which aren’t common in the industrial district we were located in at the time.
In addition, entrances to buildings were shot with certain types of bushes, hedges, trees as well as the exterior wall of the building of one of our centers exposing its outward design. There were other minor details also exposed on the film relating to our operation, including some of our employees faces. They have been moved out of the country to manage things day-to-day from an undisclosed location.
The above information could be used or has already been used to identify our former positions.
I should have never done the interview. It’s one of my few regrets in this life.
Q. Why do you feel the need to exercise this high level of OPSEC (Operational Security)
A. I have too much to lose. The Chinese have threatened to imprison me and my family, or simply disappear me. They consider this undermining national currency, aka treasonous behavior. That’s why I fled the country before the Viceland segment aired.
Q. Do you still live in China?
A. No.
Q. Does your family live with you?
A. I’d rather not say. But I will tell you that my child is attending university in Great Britain.
Q. How much money have you made from these operations.
A. I’d rather not give an exact amount. But it’s nearing 8 figures.
Q. How many mines are under your control and do you employ cybersecurity engineers for threat assessment and defense?
A: While I can’t disclose the exact number of Bitcoin mining operations. It’s between 50-400. I do employ a cybersecurity firm to manage the daily intrusion threats we face. We face sophisticated hackers on a daily basis. Most of them are from China, Romania, the USA, and Russia. The cybersecurity firm are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to deal with these threats. I won’t disclose the name of the company although it is based in the United States.
Q. Have things settled down for you? Do you live extravagantly or keep a low-profile now that you seem to have settled down?
A. I run a legitimate business and live modestly, though I do like to splurge from time to time. I love electronics of all kinds and I do own one expensive sports car which I only drive on a racetrack. My daily car is a Honda Accord and it has about 120,000 miles on it.
Q. Thank you so much for you time. As your operations continue to expand, would you consider granting another interview to me down the road?
A: Absolutely. Give me a month or so and I'd be glad to grant another interview. The weather is very nice where I'm living currently.