A cryptocurrency company owned by citizens of the People's Republic of China, will have to sell real estate, which it acquired near the American base, where intercontinental missiles are located, writes UNN with reference to "Voice of America".
Details
On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a special proclamation banning MineOne Cloud Computing Investment I L.P. from owning real estate and operating cryptocurrency mining facilities in close proximity to Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, home to part of the U.S. Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal.
The White House considers this a matter of national security. Because of concerns about possible espionage against the United States, the U.S. Treasury Department gave MineOne Partners Limited (the controlling stake in which belongs to Chinese citizens) and its partners 120 days to sell the property they had purchased near the U.S. Air Force base.
The move comes amid growing U.S. concerns about the national security risk posed by Chinese companies' purchases of U.S. property near important military installations in various states.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, "MineOne acquired the property in June 2022 and has been busy adapting it, for specialized cryptocurrency mining operations one mile from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a strategic missile base and site for Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.
"The proximity of foreign-owned real estate to a strategic missile base - a key element of the U.S. nuclear triad - as well as the presence of specialized foreign-made equipment potentially facilitating surveillance and spying activities - poses a threat to U.S. national security," the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
Supplement
In 2022, Reuters was telling us that the Biden administration was investigating Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei over concerns that U.S. cell towers equipped with its equipment could intercept sensitive information from military bases and missile silos, which Huawei could then transmit to China.
The MineOne Partners deal was reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an influential U.S. Treasury Department panel that scrutinizes investments from outside the U.S. for threats to the country's national security.
The 2018 Act expanded CFIUS's authority to review U.S. acquisitions, including real estate transactions made by foreign companies with non-controlling funds that could pose national security concerns.