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Biden Bars China-Backed Crypto Miners From Owning Land
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden issued an order Monday barring a China-backed cryptocurrency mining company from owning land near a Wyoming nuclear missile base, calling its proximity to the base a “security risk national”.
The order requires the divestiture of property operated as a cryptocurrency mining facility near Francis E. Warren Air Force Base. MineOne Partners Ltd., a company partially backed by Chinese citizens, and its affiliates are also required to remove some equipment from the site.
This is as it is in the United States Major new tariffs are expected to be released on Tuesday ON electric vehiclessemiconductors, solar equipment and medical supplies imported from China, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the plan.
And with election season in full swing, both Biden and his presumptive Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump, have told voters they will be tough on China, the world’s second-largest economy after the United States and an emerging geopolitical rival.
Monday’s divestment order was issued in coordination with the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a little-known but powerful government committee charged with investigating corporate deals for national security concerns that holds the power to force companies to change ownership structures or completely divest from the United States
A 2018 law gave CFIUS the authority to review real estate transactions near sensitive sites in the United States, including F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
MineOne purchased the land that is within a mile of the Air Force base in Cheyenne in 2022, and, according to CFIUS, the purchase was not reported to the committee as required until the committee received a public tip.
The order was vague regarding specific national security concerns, with the Treasury Department saying only that there were problems with “specialized, foreign-sourced equipment potentially capable of facilitating surveillance and espionage activities” that “presented a significant risk to national security.”
A company representative did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is chair of CFIUS, said the committee’s role is to “ensure that foreign investments do not undermine our national security, particularly with respect to transactions that pose risks to sensitive U.S. military installations such as well as those involving specialized equipment and technologies.”
The committee is made up of members from the Departments of State, Justice, Energy and Commerce, among others, which investigates national security risks from foreign investments in American companies.
CFIUS ordered that the property be sold within 120 days and that within 90 days the company would remove all structures and equipment on the site.