President Joe Biden has issued an order halting further operations of a China-linked cryptocurrency mining company on land near a nuclear missile base in Wyoming.
The White House published an order on May 13, 2024, compelling MineOne Cloud Computing Investment and its affiliates to divest their property near the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The company operated a cryptocurrency mining facility less than a mile from the base.
According to the order, the company, though a British Virgin Islands company, is ultimately majority-owned by Chinese nationals. It further noted that the company purchased the property in June 2022, but the transaction was not filed with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
President Biden cited national security concerns as the reason for revoking the firm’s property rights. The order noted that the company and its owners “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”
Additionally, the company and its partners must remove all equipment installed on the site after the improvements. The order also bars any Chinese-linked entities from accessing the site.
Tech giant Microsoft, which operates a nearby data centre, had previously raised concerns about the site. According to a 2023 New York Times investigation, the Microsoft team wrote in an August 2022 report to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) that the location could allow the Chinese to “pursue full-spectrum intelligence collection operations.”
As of the time of this report, MineOne has not responded to the order.
Meanwhile, MineOne might have attracted strong interest from U.S. institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. In October 2021, for its first fundraising, it raised over $20 million within a month. Since the fund’s launch, it has been “actively subscribed,” according to the announcement made at that time.
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The mine was given a tight exit timeline
The order required MineOne to remove the specified equipment within 90 days and divest its interest in the property within 120 days. The decision effectively prevented the company from continuing to operate the facility under its existing ownership structure.
The case attracted attention because of the unusual combination of cryptocurrency mining and sensitive military infrastructure. F.E. Warren is part of the U.S. nuclear triad, making the location considerably more sensitive than an ordinary industrial site.
In 2026, the U.S. government has continued tightening its approach to potential foreign technology and supply-chain risks. The Pentagon expanded its list of Chinese companies it says support China’s military, while the administration has also introduced measures aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on foreign suppliers considered security risks.
That policy environment matters for crypto mining because large-scale mining facilities require substantial amounts of specialized hardware, electricity, land and network infrastructure. As Washington becomes more concerned about foreign ownership of strategically located infrastructure, crypto mining operations could face greater scrutiny when they are close to military bases or other sensitive facilities.
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