$1,500 spent on electricity at an Airbnb in three weeks as owner discovers guests were mining cryptocurrencies
An Airbnb host in the United States has been obliged to add ‘no crypto mining’ to the list of house rules after a negative experience with a previous rental.
Booking accommodations through services like Airbnb never cease to surprise us, especially when the stays are used for purposes other than a traditional vacation or tourism.
This is the case of a homeowner in the United States who shared her surprise experience in the summer of 2024. Her home was booked for an activity as peculiar as cryptocurrency mining. Ashley (the homeowner in question) explained the bizarre situation via a TikTok post, stating that she realized something was wrong when she received an electricity bill of over 1,500 dollars.
Up to 10 computers mining cryptocurrencies
And while the owner of this home didn’t have security cameras inside, she does have them outside the house, so she was able to see how her tenants packed up ten computers which they used for this activity when they left the house. As a result, the owner received an astronomical electricity bill of over $1,500 for the tenancy period.
By comparison, if ten specially prepared gaming computers with an average power consumption of 600 watts were to run for ten hours a day for three weeks, the cost of electricity in the United States would be around $250, as the electricity bill there is significantly cheaper than in Europe; in Germany, for example, the same bill would be around €500. However, mining-prepared computers use much more power, as the electricity bill the owner received shows.
Ashley also reported that the tenants used their own electric vehicle charging station, which further increased the bill. Ultimately, the landlord of said apartment refused to accept the high electricity charge she received, so she filed a formal complaint with Airbnb’s management and the tenants ultimately had to pay the electricity costs, and from now on, the tenant added a new rule prohibiting both cryptocurrency mining and electric vehicle charging stations in her accommodation.
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