Kirk is mining for bitcoin in the Chinese province of Sichuan, hoping every day that he doesn’t get caught by the authorities. Like other crypto miners who have gone underground since Beijing cracked down on the industry this year, Kirk, who has only asked to be known through his nickname for protection, is going artistic to evade detection. Kirk has spread his mining equipment across multiple sites so that no one operation stands out on the country’s electrical grid. He has also gone “behind the meter,” drawing electricity directly from small, local power sources that are not connected to the...