Detroit, March 5 (Reuters) – U.S. authorities have begun releasing seized Chinese-made equipment used for cryptocurrency mining in recent weeks, two industry executives told Reuters.
Cryptocurrency miners – basically souped up computers with advanced chips – conflict with each other to solve mathematical puzzles. This is a process that will help you build blockchains and earn rewards in the form of new digital currency.
“Thousands of units have been released,” says Taras Kulyk, CEO and co-founder of Synteq Digital, a cryptocurrency mining equipment broker. At one point, 10,000 units were stuck at various ports of entry, Kulyk told Reuters.
“Apparently, there were people in CBP who didn’t really like mining Bitcoin, so they wanted to give the entire sector a headache.
The US Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Communications Commission began seizing certain Bitcoin mining equipment late last year, industry publisher Blockspace reported in Novemberopen a new tab. The publication said at least some machines could be detained because they carried chips from trade-restricted Chinese chip company Sofgo.
The release of the non-decisive amount of equipment comes amidst the security concerns raised by US authorities over the months of the Biden administration’s decline amid the ongoing trade war between the US and China.
Ethan Bela, chief operating officer of Luxor Technology, told Reuters: “Some cargo has been released, but now there are still a few cargoes.” Both Vera and Kulyk said the authorities raised concerns about radio frequency emissions from the machine, but they said they had no basis for it.
A CBP spokesman confirmed Reuters’ request for comment on Wednesday, but did not provide immediate response. The FCC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sofgo reported in October as he allegedly served as an intermediary between high-end Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC and blacklisted Chinese telecom company Huawei on the day the Biden administration fell.
