Ukrainian ‘crypto mining farm’ with PS4 consoles was FIFA Ultimate Team bot farm

The property with 3800 PS4 consoles that was closed by the Ukrainian security services a week ago was not a crypto mining farm. This reports business newspaper Delo based on its own sources. Instead, it would be a FIFA Ultimate Team bot farm.

A week ago, the news came out that the Ukrainian security service SBU had closed down a warehouse containing 3800 PS4 consoles, 500 video cards and 50 processors. The security service then reported that the equipment was being used to illegally mine cryptocurrencies. Before that, energy was illegally tapped from the local grid.

However, Ukrainian business newspaper Delo reports based on its own investigation that this is not the case. Anonymous sources report to the newspaper that the abandoned warehouse was used as a FIFA Ultimate Team bot farm. There has already been skepticism about the SBU’s claims, partly because PS4 consoles have not been used on a large scale for crypto mining before. PS4 Slim consoles were also used, rather than the more powerful PS4 Pro variants.

The 3800 PS4 consoles would therefore not have been used to mine cryptocurrencies. Instead, the consoles were used to continuously play FIFA matches via bots. With this, FIFA Ultimate Teams coins are accumulated on accounts, which were then sold on to other players.

Among other things, FIFA players can pay real money for loot boxes, which offer a very small chance of the world’s best football players. Gamers can also play the game to amass in-game currency to collect such players for their teams. However, the best players cost a lot of such coins, so it can take months to accumulate enough FUT coins.

That is why accounts with such FUT coins are also sold illegally, for example by people behind bot farms like this one. Publisher Electronic Arts warns against buying and selling FUT coins, saying that doing so could result in a ban.

The botfarm in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Source: SBU