Biden blocks Chinese-backed crypto miner from owning land near Wyoming missile base over national security threats

• Biden issued the order blocking MineOne Partners from ownership on Monday
• The Treasury cited a ‘significant national security risk’ posed by the site

President Joe Biden has banned a Chinese-backed crypto mining firm from owning land near a Wyoming nuclear missile base, saying it’s a ‘national security risk’.

Biden issued the order blocking MineOne Partners Ltd from owning land near the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base on Monday. 

The order forces the divestment of property operated as a crypto mining facility near the base and orders MineOne and its affiliates to remove certain equipment from the site. 

The Treasury said there were issues with ‘specialized and foreign-sourced equipment potentially capable of facilitating surveillance and espionage activities’. 

Tensions between the US and China are escalating with both countries cracking down on the presence of foreign companies and reliance on their products.  

The Treasury said that MineOne’s ownership of land near the base – one of three strategic-missile bases in the US was a threat to security. 

MineOne bought the land within one mile of the base in Cheyenne in 2022, but the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States said the purchase was not reported to them as required. 

The Committee was only made aware of the sale after receiving a public tip. 

They then looked into the ownership and found there were issues with ‘specialized and foreign-sourced equipment potentially capable of facilitating surveillance and espionage activities’ that ‘presented a significant national security risk.’

As a result of the concerns, they ordered the sale of the property within 120 days, and said the company had to remove all structures and equipment on the site within 90 days. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who serves as the chairperson of the Committee, said their 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.’

The committee is made up of members from the State, Justice, Energy and Commerce Departments among others, which investigates national security risks from foreign investments in American firms.

It represents yet another escalation of tensions between the US and China. 

The US is slated on Tuesday to issue major new tariffs on electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar equipment and medical supplies imported from China. 

Tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, in particular, could quadruple — from the existing 25 percent to 100 percent. 

Both Biden and former President Donald Trump have told voters they will be tough on China. 

Biden has defined his policy as ‘competition with China, not conflict.’ 

He has embraced an industrial strategy that has used government financial support to pull in private investment in new factories and advanced technology, while limiting the selling of computer chips and other equipment to China. 

It is the latest step in a cold war between the two countries which has seen the US place sanctions on a long list of Chinese companies on national security grounds.

In March, senators compared social media app TikTok to a ‘gun pointed at American’s heads’ and passed a bill that would force China-based ByteDance to divest from TikTok.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal told DailyMail.com that through the app, ‘the Chinese Communist are weaponizing information that they are constantly, surreptitiously collecting from 170 million Americans and potentially aiming that information, using it through algorithms, at the core of American democracy.’ 

Biden also announced in February that he is taking steps against Chinese automakers to prevent them from selling electric vehicles in the US due to security risks.

There are currently 2.4 million EVs registered in the U.S., but Biden warned if China is allowed to flood the EV market, carmakers could easily track consumer data at a time when cars are constantly connected to our phones and navigation systems.

He equated vehicles to ‘smartphones on wheels,’ and said his administration is investigating the potential impact on national security with the possibility of a future ban on Chinese vehicles making their way into the American market.

Beijing has been trying to reduce its reliance on foreign firms by building out its local semiconductor industry as it grapples with US export curbs on technology including cutting-edge chips.