US Expels Chinese Crypto Firm from Land Near Wyoming Nuclear Missile Base

US President Joe Biden prevented a Chinese crypto firm, MineOne Partners Ltd., from owning land located near the F.E. Warren Air Force Base. As the Wyoming Air Force base houses intercontinental ballistic missiles, Biden addressed the mining firm as a threat to national security.

The government has ordered the company and its affiliates to dispossess the real estate it bought in 2022 near the Wyoming Air Force base. While the company refused to comment, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) highlighted the possibility of a potential threat behind the Chinese company’s purchase of the area. The US Treasury pointed out,

“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.”

Adding to the complexity, the CFIUS conducted a review and identified that the Chinese crypto firm’s purchase of the land posed a significant risk. Though the department’s explanations on the threat were vague, the US Treasury Secretary and CFIUS Chairperson Janet Yellen stated that the committee’s role is “to ensure that foreign investment does not undermine our national security, particularly as it relates to transactions that present risk to sensitive U.S. military installations as well as those involving specialized equipment and technologies.”

In addition, federal and state officials have warned against a common practice of Chinese firms targeting US military installations by buying lands near them. In the current case, MineOne’s real estate is reportedly just one mile away from the Air Force base.