- A cryptocurrency miner in Thailand has died after his computer electrocuted him
- Danai Makmek died when apparently trying to fix a hard drive
- His mining activities seem to have had nothing to do with his death, but some outlets have made a link
A Thai man mining cryptocurrency at his home has died after one of his computers seemingly electrocuted him when he tried to repair it. Danai Makmek, 26, was running a series of GPU rigs from computers, and when he tried to repair one it caused an electric shock that killed him. Such instances are unheard of in the cryptocurrency space, but it seems that Makmek was working on a computer that he already knew to be faulty, which could well have caused the fault.
Bitcoin Mining Through CPUs or Computers? Not any More
The story surrounding Makmek’s demise is a little murky, not helped by the fact that early reports offer conflicting facts. For example, the Telegraph in the UK claims that Makmek was mining Bitcoin through a series of “sprawling banks of computers” which is impossible nowadays, before showing a photo of a series of GPU rigs which, also, cannot be used for mining Bitcoin. The confusion seems to have come from Danai’s brother, Apiwat, who said his brother was mining Bitcoin with the setup, which was probably an error.
Hard Drive Error Led to Home Repair Job
The story goes that Makmek became distraught when the hard drives on his computers began to fail, but rather than wait for a technician to repair them he tried himself, supposedly causing an electric shock. This suggests that Bitcoin mining, or any other cryptocurrency mining come to that, had little or nothing to do with his death, but of course mainstream media outlets would hate for the facts to get in the way of a good story.
Of course Makmek’s death was a tragedy, but to claim that Bitcoin mining was behind it when he was trying to fix a faulty computer would be classed as libellous if it was against an individual or a company. There’s clutching at straws and there’s shaving twigs to look like straws.
