Biden orders Chinese crypto miner out of Wyoming land close to nuclear base
Chinese firm MineOne and its partners must sell land they bought in Wyoming for cryptocurrency mining, US President Joe Biden has ordered, citing ‘security concerns’ due to the real estate’s close proximity to a US nuclear missile base.
The Treasury Department said that President Biden had ‘issued an order prohibiting the purchase and requiring the divestment of certain real estate operated as a cryptocurrency mining facility located within one mile of Francis E. Warren Air Force Base (F.E. Warren AFB), as well as requiring the removal of certain improvements and equipment at the property by MineOne Partners Limited, which is ultimately majority owned by nationals of the People’s Republic of China.’
MineOne Cloud Computing acquired the property in June 2022 and made improvements to allow for use of the property for specialised cryptocurrency mining, but Biden’s 13 May order gave it 120 days to divest.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (‘CFIUS’), which vets national security implications of foreign investments in the US, had ‘identified national security risks arising from the transaction relating to the proximity of the property to F.E. Warren AFB,’ Treasury said in a press release, 13 May.
‘CFIUS also assessed the risk associated with the presence of specialized equipment on the property used to conduct cryptocurrency mining operations, some of which is foreign-sourced and presents significant national security concerns,’ Treasury said. ‘The proximity of the foreign-owned cryptocurrency mining facility to a strategic missile base and key element of America’s nuclear triad, and the presence of specialized and foreign-sourced equipment potentially capable of facilitating surveillance and espionage activities, presented a significant national security risk that led to CFIUS’s referral to the President.’
