The investigation revealed that the 3,800 PlayStation 4s, which they initially thought were used for Bitcoin mining, were actually programmed to automatically play FIFA and earn Ultimate Team cards.
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Just a week ago, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that they discovered what looked like a Bitcoin mining farm . However, the investigation revealed that the 3,800 PlayStation 4 (PS4) consoles found at the site were actually programmed to play the FIFA video game automatically. The goal was to earn FIFA Ultimate Team Coins and Cards and then resell them to passionate gamers .
The news went viral and caused a great impact, as the equipment also worked with stolen electricity , avoiding estimated payments of between 186 and 260 thousand dollars per month.
What caused the most stir was the news that Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies could be mined with a PS4 (or several, in this case). One of those who questioned this information was the local media Delo , where they noticed that in the photos of the report discs are seen coming out of some of the equipment .
On the left you can see discs coming out of some of the 3,800 PlayStation 4 consoles that were mistaken for a Bitcoin mine. Image via Security Service of Ukraine .
Most of the equipment belonged to the economic version of the PlayStation 4 , called Slim and with power of only 1.84 teraflops, although they do not rule out that there were also others from the Pro version, with 4.2 teraflops of power.
According to specialists, none of these equipment would have sufficient capacity to mine Bitcoin, and if they did, it would not be a significant amount, not even if almost 4 thousand devices are used at the same time.
The same medium points out that the requisitioned PS4s would have been programmed to automatically play the FIFA video game over and over again.
The goal would be to earn in-game coins that could then be exchanged for real money or Ultimate Team cards . These cards are very popular with FIFA fans, and if you get a rare one you can resell it with a good profit margin.
Another quite profitable option in the gamer market is to accumulate enough coins and / or cards to be able to sell the player account in its entirety.
