Biden orders removal of Chinese-owned cryptocurrency mining companies near missile bases
US President Joe Biden has signed an order banning a China-linked cryptocurrency mining company from continuing to use land near a nuclear missile base in Wyoming.
An order issued by the White House on May 13 requires MineOne Cloud Computing Investment and its partners to sell assets that operate as a cryptocurrency mining facility near Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Biden cited national security concerns for his order to revoke the company’s property rights.
“Ultimately, there is credible evidence that leads us to believe that MineOne Partners Limited, a British Virgin Islands company majority-owned by Chinese nationals (…) may be taking actions that threaten the national security of the United States.”
MineOne acquired the property in June 2022 and then improved it for use in cryptocurrency mining near the Air Force base. The military facility is a strategic missile site and home to intercontinental ballistic missiles, the order says.
Additionally, the Company and its affiliates must remove all equipment from the site installed after remedial work. The order also prohibits groups linked to China from further accessing the site, which is less than a mile from the base.
The company cannot transfer the property to a third party within 120 days from the date of the real estate sale order.
Red flags regarding this particular site have been raised in the past by tech giant Microsoft, which has a data center nearby.
According to a 2023 New York Times investigation, the Microsoft team wrote in an August 2022 report to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that the position allows China to “conduct a full-scale intelligence collection operation.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who also chairs the committee, said the order to force MineOne to sell the land “underscores the important gatekeeping role CFIUS plays in ensuring that foreign investment does not undermine our national security.” “he said.
MineOne has raised more than $20 million for its first fund in just one month of 2021. Since launching the fund in October 2021, U.S. institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals have “actively subscribed” to the fund, according to an announcement at the time. .
Cointelegraph reached out to MineOne for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Related: Trojan Horse Presence in Chinese, U.S. Bitcoin Mining Infrastructure
The Biden administration previously ordered a crackdown on the U.S. Bitcoin mining industry as part of the ongoing cryptocurrency war, citing China as an example to follow.
Cryptocurrency mining has been significantly curtailed by China’s ruling regime in 2021, sparking an exodus of mining operations, many of which ended up across the pond in the United States.
The latest White House order comes a day before the Biden administration significantly increased tariffs on several Chinese imports, including electric vehicles.
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