We often think about creative solutions for the companies we are involved with, but we often overlook one of the most creative sectors in the economy – organized crime. One aspect of organized crime is the police determine the group’s patterns and then disrupts organized crime, which is good for the rest of us. Organized crime has to be creative and find other solutions. It helps if the crime group has the resources or the money to be as creative as possible.

In an article by Sarah Morland and Daniel Becerril of Reuters, high in the lush green mountains of Central Mexico, next to sparsely travelled gravel road, few people had reason to go near where the loud, mechanical whirring of a clandestine cryptocurrency farm.

What led to the police to the ramshackle building, was not the noise, but the vast amounts of electricity needed to run the operation. The levels needed was well above the needs of the small communities in the Sierra Norte region of Puebla state.

In Puebla, authorities discovered 300 GPUs and 8 satellite antennae.

Drug cartels appear to have reached a new level of sophistication, said David Saucedo, a Mexican based security analyst. Such an operation requires technical expertise and backing from a well-financed group.

As more people and institutions worldwide adopt virtual currency, most within the confines of the law. Latin American cartels are increasing the use of money transfers and mining operations to launder money.

The cost of mining one bitcoin is nearly $45,000. Current prices are $72,000 or profit is to be made. However, if they were stealing the electricity, the main costs of the operation would be well – nothing.

Three other similar crypto farms were found last year in the vicinity of the nearby hydroelectric dam in northern Puebla. Local authorities said they are collaborating with nearby states to investigate the possibility of more hidden operations.

Similar raids have taken place in Brazil, the US, and Southeast Asia, including a major bitcoin mining operations in Thailand that spanned 5 provinces.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when money is to be made on a consistent basis, innovation and creativity plays an important role. While we hope that your investments do it legally, cartels have to be even more innovation and creative because what they do is illegal and the police are trying to stop it. In business, it is possible for a legal company to buy another legal company to gain talent, innovation and creativity. It is possible to see creativity in all sorts of areas.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.