U.S. Orders Chinese Crypto-Mining Firm to Remove Equipment From Wyoming Facility

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, on Monday signed a decree stopping a Chinese-funded crypto mining company from owning land near the Francis E.  Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. The order specifies the selling of the property on which a crypto mining facility is operated and owned by MineOne Partners Ltd., which is partially owned by the Chinese state. 

This divestment order was made in collaboration with the U. S.  Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The agency looks into corporate deals for national security issues and has the power to make companies change their operations. The order cited the national security risks related to the equipment, which was specialized and foreign-sourced and which probably was able to facilitate surveillance and espionage activities.  The Treasury Department said that these risks were a great national security threat. 

MineOne’s Acquisition

MineOne Partners Limited, a British Virgin Islands company mostly owned by Chinese nationals, intended to purchase real estate within one mile of the Francis E.  Warren Air Force Base. The deal was made in June 2022 and comprised Lot 1, Block 10 North Range Business Park 3rd Filing, which was created for the specific cryptocurrency mining operations. Such activities brought up the issue of possible surveillance and spyware. 

The President’s decree forbids the purchase and requires MineOne and its subsidiaries to sell all legal and beneficial owners in the property within 120 days. Besides, MineOne has to take out all the related equipment and enhancements within 90 days, provided that CFIUS confirms it. The order also prohibits MineOne from any physical or logical access to the property, equipment, or improvements until divestment and removal are fulfilled to CFIUS’s satisfaction. 

Enforcement and Compliance Measures

The Attorney General has been authorized to ensure that the President’s order is followed, which expressly prohibits any effort to dodge or bypass the divestment and removal requirements. 

Non-compliance with these is likely to lead to the implementation of more enforcement measures and penalties. The Secretary of the Treasury, who is also the chair of CFIUS, stressed that the committee’s task is to make sure that foreign investment does not jeopardize the national security, specifically those transactions that are risky to the sensitive U.  S.  military installations and that involve the specialized equipment and technologies. 

In 2022, Reuters disclosed that the Biden administration was probing into Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer, over worries that its equipment installed in US cellular towers might be capable of collecting confidential data from military installations and missile silos, which could potentially be relayed back to China.