US authorities crackdown on China-linked Bitcoin miners amid national security threat: Report
Officials in the United States government have reportedly been monitoring some cryptocurrency mining operations with ties to China.
An Oct. 13 report from the New York Times suggests that many US-based Bitcoin (BTC) data centers may be linked directly to the Chinese government, raising concerns about activities on military bases and other areas linked to national security. . One of the sites being monitored by officials is mining near a Microsoft data center in Wyoming that supports some of the Pentagon's operations.
“Microsoft has no direct indications of malicious activity by this entity,” the firm said in its report on the operation. However, we point to additional discoveries, the computing power of an industrial-grade cryptomining operation, an unknown number of Chinese nationals in direct proximity to a Microsoft data center, and the discovery of one of three strategic missile bases. The United States offers high risk protections.
BitOrigin, a company that converted its infrastructure from pork processing to a crypto data center, reportedly chose the location because of a deal with local service providers over proximity to Microsoft facilities. The company moved operations from Indiana to Wyoming in September, employing 3,200 miners and reporting a hash rate of 320 petahashes per second as of September 30.
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The report highlighted some of the difficulties of establishing mining operations linked to the Chinese government or certain nationals amid political tensions between the US and China. In the year Many mining companies left China as the government banned them from operating in 2021, forcing some to US soil and crypto-friendly states like Texas and Wyoming.
Several US authorities have targeted individuals or organizations linked to China through crypto. In the year On October 3, the Treasury Department approved crypto wallets linked to the drug fentanyl, involving several Chinese-based chemical manufacturers. In July, claims crypto company Prometheum had ties to the Chinese government led to calls for an investigation by six members of Congress.
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