USA investigated Bitmain as a possible risk to national security

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: The USA investigated Bitmain as a possible risk to national security Original Link: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is investigating Bitmain, a Chinese manufacturer of Bitcoin mining equipment, as a potential national security threat, according to seven people familiar with the matter.

Unidentified sources have stated that a federal investigation, led by the DHS and codenamed Operation Red Sunset, has been focusing on whether the company's mining hardware could be remotely controlled for espionage purposes or even to sabotage the U.S. power grid.

This investigation is being conducted simultaneously with the investigations of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which in July published a report concluding that Bitmain's machines “can be forced by the People's Republic of China to deliver data in accordance with Chinese national security law.”

The same report also stated that Bitmain miners “have the ability to be remotely controlled by Bitmain employees in China,” citing findings of “backdoors” in Bitmain equipment as early as 2017.

The federal suspicion regarding Bitmain predates the current Trump administration, with then-President Joe Biden issuing an order in May 2024 that prohibited MineOne Partners from operating a mining facility near Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.

One of the main underlying concerns regarding this divestment order was that the MineOne Partners installation used “foreign-sourced” equipment that posed “significant national security concerns.”

Such concerns have persisted under the current government, despite the fact that the two sons of President Donald Trump have ties to American Bitcoin, which agreed to purchase 16,000 machines from Bitmain this year in a deal valued at $314 million.

The investigation by the Department of Homeland Security was complemented by discussions at the White House National Security Council, where investigations began during Biden's presidency and continued at least through the first months of the Trump administration.

Federal customs agents also stopped and inspected Bitmain equipment at U.S. ports on various occasions, while the federal investigation into Bitmain considered the possibility of tariff violations.

Bitmain rejected any allegations that it may control its machines remotely, stating that “it has never engaged in activities that pose risks to the national security of the U.S.” and that it has not received any information about any federal investigation related to its products.

Can mining machines be controlled remotely?

Some mining experts suggest that while the concerns of the US regarding the security of hardware manufactured abroad are common to the technology industry as a whole, remotely controlling mining machines undetected would be difficult.

“These machines are built for a single purpose: to mine Bitcoin. Therefore, a backdoor would mainly allow for remote adjustments, such as switching pools, changing settings, or turning the units on and off,” said Nishant Sharma, founder of BlocksBridge, a consulting and communications firm specializing in mining.

Sharma said that, in large data centers, external interference would be “difficult to hide,” because operators closely monitor the hashrate and network traffic of their centers.

He added: “And, unlike PCs or GPUs, most miners in industrial fleets do not have Wi-Fi and have very limited interfaces; they are quite basic devices from a security standpoint.”