Neither Jiaming or one of his business associates responded to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment.Ĭourt records show that another Chinese company involved in bitcoin mining, YZY Capital Holdings, also bought a separate plot of land near the Microsoft data center. Li Jiaming, president of the company, told The New York Times that the company’s investors chose the Cheyenne site because they had secured an agreement from Black Hills Energy to provide it with power, not because they were seeking proximity to the Microsoft data center or the missile base. One of the other companies tied to the mining operation is Bit Origin Ltd, which until last year was a Chinese pork processing company. 30 reveal that the Cheyenne operation is tied to Bitmain, a Chinese company that has claimed it controls 90% of the global market for bitcoin mining equipment. “Our country needs to take any threat from the CCP very seriously, which is why I have actively worked to ensure our adversaries, like China, cannot purchase farmland throughout our country, particularly near military bases,” Lummis said.Ĭourt documents filed in the lawsuit Sept. soil have gained steam in recent years with some states making efforts to ban Chinese and foreign ownership of land. The concerns about these mining facilities and potential larger Chinese intelligence gathering efforts on U.S. “We know Homeland Security, the Treasury Department and the Pentagon have all engaged to varying degrees and are aware of what is going on in Wyoming.” “The spy balloon incident and proximity to military bases and data centers are not coincidences,” Murphy said. Murphy said the national security concerns about the mines in Cheyenne “are palpable and legitimate.” (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) Security Risks Warren Air Force Base just west of Cheyenne. “The Chinese are pushing out Americans - like us at Bison Blockchain - and using our electrical energy to mine Bitcoin.”Ī Chinese bitcoin mining facility near F.E. “The bitcoin network is the largest and most secure cyber network on the planet we know this and the Chinese know this,” he said. Sean Murphy, a spokesperson for Bison Blockchain, told Cowboy State Daily that China is well aware of the power of bitcoin and its opportunities. Eventually, Bison Blockchain was pushed out from the operation by MineOne and Chinese-owned mining company Bitmain, which spurred the lawsuit over an alleged breach of contract. The next year, Bison Blockchain entered into an agreement with MineOne Wyoming to develop two bitcoin mining facilities. This effort aligned with crypto-friendly legislation passed into law in Wyoming around this time, incentivizing the growth of the industry in the Cowboy State. In May, Bison Blockchain filed a $22 million lawsuit in Wyoming federal court against five companies based in Delaware and the Cayman Islands related to its bitcoin mines in Cheyenne.īack in 2021, Bison Blockchain had set out with ambitious plans to develop and operate one of the largest Bitcoin mines in the U.S. “Protection of Wyoming infrastructure and our national security remains the Governor’s highest priority.” Related Lawsuit “Like all Wyoming citizens, Governor Gordon is deeply concerned about potential threats to national security,” the spokesperson said. Mark Gordon said the governor feels similarly and is coordinating with the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security to monitor the situation. Lummis is concerned about the potential of the CCP spying on our military bases and will look to ways oversight can be conducted to ensure nothing nefarious is happening at this facility in Cheyenne,” said a spokesperson for Lummis.Ī spokesperson for Gov. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, who has been very active in crafting cryptocurrency legislation. The proximity of the operation to the data center and missile base specifically raises concerns for U.S. In a 2022 report to the Committee on Foreign Investment, Microsoft warned that the location of the crypto operation could allow the Chinese to “pursue full-spectrum intelligence collection operations.” A government official told the Times that measures had been taken to mitigate potential collection of intelligence by the mine for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The New York Times reports that federal officials say they have been tracking the Wyoming operation for months. Warren Air Force Base, a facility that controls nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. The bitcoin mine is located next to a Microsoft data center in Cheyenne that has supported the Pentagon and is within a mile of F.E. A cryptocurrency mining operation in Wyoming with ties to China that’s being scrutinized by the federal government has Wyoming lawmakers concerned.
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