The United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) began to release ASIC devices used to undermine Bitcoin (BTC) that had been seized since September 2024.
As reported by the Specialized Mining Site, The Mining Pod, the cessation of these arrests would be linked to the pressure exerted by the Republican Senator of the Wyoming State, Cynthia Lummis, and the administration of President Donald Trump, close to Bitcoin and mining industry.
That same source indicates that hardware seizures, initiated last September, would have cost a mining company Around 5 million dollars In Bitcoin Asic value. In addition, the estimated amount of detainees rises to 10,000 unitsaccording to The Mining Pod.
As recently reported, this American government agency, which is part of the National Security Department, had intensified its Bitcoin miners’ seizure policy at the request of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The withholdings began with the devices manufactured by the Chinese company Bitmain and then they extended to those of the companies Microbt and Canaan. For example, in November, that US agency seized ASIC S21 and Bitmain T21 teams at different entrance points to the country.
Why this American agency seizes those ASIC?
Initially, according to The Mining Pod, it was speculated that the Seic Equipment of Bitcoin Equipment of the Bitmain company in the United States, particularly antminers, could be related to the use of a particular chip type in the control plates of the T21 and S21 model.
This conjecture pointed out that these chips were on the blacklist of the US Department of Commerce. Due to his link with Huawei. This Chinese company, sanctioned in the US for alleged espionage, also uses those chips of the S21 and T21 and, in addition, Share CEO and co -founder with Bitmain.
However, this theory lost strength over time, since subsequent arrests of ASICs from other companies such as Microbt and Canaan were reported. This suggests that seizures were not limited to a specific problem with Bitmain or with those chips, but could respond to a broader policy towards Mining equipment from China.
The Mining Pod report shows that the reasons behind the seizure of ASIC Mining Equipment remain a mystery. So much so that the analysts of that site left some questions unanswered: «Why did the Biden administration show so much interest in this matter during their last days? Could it have been a retaliation for miners for some support for Trump’s campaign?
However, Bitcoin mining journalists offered a final speculation: «The agency responsible for retaining these teams intensified their work between January and February. Trump would not have had time to assume control of these government areas, which implies that the agencies acted under previous orders of the outgoing administration ».
Ultimately and without deepening, they discarded the idea that it was a Trump Directive linked to the increase in rates to Chinaleaving the true purpose of these actions uncertain.