The US Government banned a researcher for mining Bitcoin using their supercomputer

On May 27, 2014,  a researcher affiliated with the National Science Foundation (NSF) was banned from working with the US government after it was discovered that he had used federally funded supercomputers to mine Bitcoin without authorization.
 

The NSF, an independent federal agency, supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In this case, the researcher misused supercomputers funded by the NSF, which are typically allocated for scientific research that benefits the public.
 

The administrative action against the researcher was disclosed in the NSF Office of Inspector General (OIG) report to Congress. The report revealed that the researcher had utilized more than $150,000 in NSF-supported computer activity to generate an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 in Bitcoin. The researcher claimed the activity was part of testing, but this assertion was denied by the affiliated universities, which stated they had not authorized such actions.
 

Further investigations found evidence suggesting that the individual had taken steps to conceal his mining activities, including accessing one of the supercomputers through a mirror site in Europe. This breach of trust led to the researcher’s suspension from providing any further work to any US government body.