Bloomberg: The United States launches investigation into Bitmain! The Ministry of National Security is concerned that Bitmain mining machines are used for espionage and threaten the security of the power grid.

According to "Bloomberg" citing sources, the U.S. government has launched a months-long federal investigation into Bitmain, the world's largest manufacturer of Bitcoin mining equipment. The core goal is to assess whether the Bitcoin mining machines produced by Bitmain may be used for espionage, remote control, or pose a potential threat to critical U.S. infrastructure such as the power grid.
(Preliminary information: Bitmain will build its first factory in the United States! In response to policy dividends and Trump’s tariff pressure, it is expected to be put into production in early 2026)
(Background supplement: U.S. Immigration Service raids Texas Bitcoin mines! Many Bitmain employees were arrested, and the chip war between China and the United States turns to mining companies)

Contents of this article

According to Bloomberg citing sources, the U.S. government has launched a months-long federal investigation into Bitmain Technologies Ltd., the world's largest manufacturer of Bitcoin mining equipment, code-named "Operation Red Sunset." This investigation is led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The core goal is to assess whether Bitcoin mining machines produced by Bitmain may be used for espionage, remote control, or pose a potential threat to U.S. critical infrastructure (such as the power grid).

Investigation background and key events

To put it simply, the trigger for this investigation was the large-scale deployment of Bitmain mining equipment in the United States. Bitmain has long accounted for more than 80% of the global Bitcoin mining machine market. Its products are widely used in Bitcoin mines in the United States, many of which are close to military bases, missile silos or large data centers. This has long aroused alarm at the federal level.

As early as 2023, the New York Times disclosed that some mines operated by Chinese capital and using a large number of Bitmain equipment are very close to key U.S. military and infrastructure facilities, posing risks of intelligence leakage and power system manipulation. Subsequently, in November 2024, U.S. Customs also detained containers of Bitmain because its supply chain involved the sanctioned Huawei-related chip manufacturer Sophgo. Also in September this year, Republican Iowa Representative Zachary Nunn wrote directly to the Secretary of the Treasury, requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) to thoroughly investigate the expansion plans of Bitmain and its affiliate Cango in the United States, accusing its ownership structure of being opaque and possibly influenced by foreign governments.

It is worth mentioning that Bitmain also sold 16,000 mining machines worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the "American Bitcoin" company supported by Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., making this transaction one of the focus of the investigation.

Bitmain's official response

However, regarding the security investigation from the United States, Bitmain continues to maintain its innocence, emphasizing that "the company has always strictly abided by U.S. laws and has never engaged in any behavior that harmed U.S. national security." The company firmly denies that its mining machines have the ability to remotely shut down or control, calling the relevant accusations "completely false" and pointing out that the seizure of equipment in the past was only a routine inspection by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and no problems were found.

Bitmain also denied that it has an acquisition relationship with Cango and has no plans to acquire U.S. power assets.

The potential impact is far-reaching

However, the potential impact of this case may be far-reaching. Analysts pointed out that if the case escalates further, it may have a chain impact on the global Bitcoin mining industry: U.S. miners will face equipment import delays or even cut-offs, pushing up mining costs in the short term; accelerating the replacement process of U.S.-made mining machines with other non-Chinese brands (such as MicroBT, Canaan); further intensifying the confrontation between China and the United States in the fields of cryptocurrency and key technologies, similar to the past restrictions on Huawei and TikTok.