Certain of Bitmain’s Antminer ASIC mining equipment has reportedly been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for up to two months at the ports of the nation. According to a report by Blockspace, the action has affected seven U.S.-based Bitcoin mining companies, according to a post on Facebook by a British bitcoin investor, Jim Francis.
Those detained include Antminer S21 and T21 series models, models that are critical to high-efficiency Bitcoin mining. CBP has not yet explained why the delays are happening or when they will stop. At the same time, affected companies incur increased financial losses, including daily holding fees that several firms report as exceeding $200,000 each day. The detentions appear focused at West Coast ports such as San Francisco and don’t appear to target other ASIC makers such as MicroBT or Canaan.
Sanction-Related Delays Pressure Bitcoin Mining Firms
They speculate the detentions may be triggered by heightened scrutiny of components from Xiamen Sophgo, a Chinese semiconductor firm that is under investigation for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions. According to reports, Sophgo’s CV1835 chips are used in some Antminer models like S19 and T21.
Additionally, Bitmain founder Micree Zhan is also Sophgo’s CEO and a co-founder of Bitmain, bringing yet more questions regarding potential links to the investigation. When the chip that Sophgo is involved in was found in a Huawei handset, the Department of Commerce began to probe the company. Since then, Huawei has been sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019 due to national security concerns.
While the Sophgo investigation has not been linked to the detained Antminers, sources say the FCC and CBP are scrutinizing imports for components that are restricted, in line with US sanctions enforcement.
Detaining assets of Bitcoin miners is putting pressure on the American Bitcoin mining business, which has become highly reliant on swift access to new ASIC miners to keep running and be profitable. The uncertainty surrounding the equipment delays has already triggered alarm among the firms affected, who and other industry stakeholders fear the wider mining ecosystem will be affected.
The detained shipments are now a flashpoint in discussions of how national security intersects with international trade and cryptocurrency. Largely kept in the dark, both the FCC and CBP have yet to speak publicly on the matter, leaving those touched by it left in the dark about not only how this situation will be resolved but the extent to which the FCC or CBP has the power to take appropriate action.
