{"id":8572,"date":"2024-09-19T12:29:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=8572"},"modified":"2024-09-19T12:31:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:31:40","slug":"former-chinese-crypto-mine-near-cheyenne-air-force-base-has-new-american-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/19\/former-chinese-crypto-mine-near-cheyenne-air-force-base-has-new-american-owner\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Chinese Crypto Mine Near Cheyenne Air Force Base Has New American Owner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So the facility that was supposedly a security threat to the F. E. Warren nuclear missile base<\/a> is now allowed to continue on with new American owners after Biden shut the formerly Chinese owned facility down? Someone exerted their significant power through the federal government to take over this Bitcoin<\/a> mining operation, so it begs the question, are the OCGFC looking to mount a 51% attack on Bitcoin at a future date, or defend against it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2024\/09\/18\/former-chinese-crypto-mine-near-cheyenne-air-force-base-has-new-american-owner\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
A Chinese-owned cryptocurrency mining operation a mile from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne was forced to sell. Now it has a new American owner, who told legislators Monday that the company has big plans for Wyoming.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Ren\u00e9e Jean<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The MineOne Chinese bitcoin operation ordered by President Joe Biden in early May to shut down and sell off is staging to clear out with large turcks and storage pods at the site, which is about a mile from F.E. Warren Air Force Base. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese-owned cryptocurrency mine that had set up a mile from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne has a new owner, and this time, it\u2019s a 100% domestic company with no foreign operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Las Vegas-based CleanSpark announced it\u2019s acquired the MineOne facility on Tuesday. CleanSpark CEO Zack Bradford was also present at the state Select Committee on Blockchain\u2019s meeting Monday to talk about his future plans in Wyoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI expect that we\u2019ll have close to 40 jobs,\u201d Bradford told lawmakers. \u201cWhat we do differently compared to maybe some of the prior operators is we generally staff three shifts, so we\u2019ll have employees on site monitoring the servers 24 hours a day, 365.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MineOne facility isn\u2019t the only location the company bought in Wyoming. It also bought a 30-megawatt site in Cheyenne\u2019s Campstool Business Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBetween these two properties, we have 75 megawatts,\u201d Bradford said, referencing the amount of the energy they will use. \u201cWe\u2019ve invested a little more than $25 million on our efforts to date. We expect to invest an additional $40-$50 million on infrastructure over the next three to six months at both properties and, after that, at least another $100 million on servers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiring will begin for both properties once those investments are complete, Bradford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bradford also told lawmakers during the hearing that he\u2019s found Wyoming to be exceptionally welcoming, and that he loves what he\u2019s seen so far of the state\u2019s business environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a bit of a coming home for myself and my co-founder,\u201d he added. \u201cHe was from Lander, Wyoming. I\u2019m from a small town. We\u2019ve been on the East Coast for so much of what we\u2019ve done to grow this business, so it\u2019s great to come home to the West.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not Just Cheyenne<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bradford also told lawmakers that he\u2019s not planning to buy just one or two properties in Wyoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe expect Wyoming will be a meaningful part of our growth over the next four years,\u201d he said. \u201cWyoming is now the fifth state that we will be operating in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other cryptocurrency companies that previously tried to locate in Wyoming and found electric utility companies unreceptive, Bradford said he avoided difficulties by using what he calls a \u201cfront-door\u201d approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve found in the way that we engage in all states that we go into is it\u2019s about being a partner with the utility,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to be in areas and places with abundant power, or places with intermittent needs where we can, and the community at large can, benefit from our participation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bradford added that his company expects to make significant investment into additional power grid infrastructure, including substations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat will allow greater electrification and distribution of the power available on the grid,\u201d he said. \u201cOur intention and our hope is, just like we did in Georgia, where Georgia was a net export state, is that it allowed power to stay in state and generate additional tax dollars within state lines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CleanSpark
CleanSpark CEO Zack Bradford talks with Wyoming legislators via Zoom on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ordered To Clear Out<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had to sign off on CleanSpark\u2019s acquisition of the MineOne Facility, which had been ordered to immediately shut down and sell out<\/u><\/a> in May after the Biden administration determined the company a national security threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

F.E. Warren Air Force Base is a strategic missile base, home to the Minutemen III intercontinental ballistic missiles, and a key element of the nation\u2019s nuclear triad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s executive order said there was \u201ccredible evidence\u201d to suggest that MineOne and its subsidiaries could \u201ctake action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The order also noted that the company had not notified CFIUS as it should have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t the first time MineOne had been implicated as a potential security risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheyenne-based Bison Blockchain\u2019s Sean Murphy had been warning lawmakers of a \u201cChinese takeover\u201d<\/u><\/a> in Wyoming by a conglomerate of about eight entities run by Chinese nationals who had deliberately pushed his company out not long after the facility broke ground in October 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bison Blockchain has a $22 million lawsuit pending against the companies, which are registered in Delaware and the Caymen Islands, accusing them of several misdeeds, including breach of contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Best Possible Outcome\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of MineOne\u2019s departure, Wyoming lawmakers were eager to make clear that Wyoming still welcomes legal cryptocurrency<\/u><\/a> businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Cyrus Western, R-Sheridan, told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday the situation with MineOne unfortunate, but said he\u2019s thrilled to have an all-domestic company like CleanSpark taking over the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that was the best scenario, but best possible outcome,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, CleanSpark is a publicly traded company. And they\u2019ve got mines operational across the country. So I\u201dm really excited to have them in Wyoming. They\u2019re a great company that\u2019s creating jobs here. I couldn\u2019t be more excited to have them here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being publicly traded means the company has great transparency, Western added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe financial disclosure requirements to be listed on the NASDAQ or any American exchange are pretty stringent,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I feel pretty good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jobs CleanSpark is bringing are also high-paying, blue-collar jobs, which Western believes Wyomingites want to see more of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the thing about the digital asset space and the mining spaces,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of the jobs that are created, generally speaking, are the jobs that pay well. They have a 401K match, they\u2019ve got good health insurance and that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other thing Western was glad to hear is that the company managed to acquire all the power it will need to function in Wyoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wyoming has struggled at times to keep the attention of interested cryptocurrency companies because of a lack of available power, Western said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCrypto mining companies need to be able to have quite a bit of power,\u201d Western said. \u201cI mean, they\u2019re doing 50-plus megawatts of power. They need to have high levels of reliability at a pretty consistent price.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The MineOne Chinese bitcoin operation ordered by President Joe Biden in early May to shut down and sell off is staging to clear out with large turcks and storage pods at the site, which is about a mile from F.E. Warren Air Force Base. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So the facility that was supposedly a security threat to the F. E. Warren nuclear missile base is now allowed to continue on with new American owners after Biden shut the formerly Chinese owned facility down? Someone exerted their significant power through the federal government to take over this Bitcoin mining operation, so it begs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","category-wyoming"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8572"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8575,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8572\/revisions\/8575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}