The S21 and T21 model miners, which are among the newest, are retained.
Some miners have been detained for more than two months and the situation is throughout the country.
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is reportedly holding up certain imports of Antminer series ASIC devices manufactured by the Chinese company Bitmain at ports of entry to the country.
According to reports From the local press, at least seven mining companies, based in the USA, have reported that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has asked CBP to retain these shipments of ASIC miners at ports of entry.
The affected imports include the Antminer S21 and T21 miner models, Bitmain’s most recent and advanced. These withholdings They don’t seem to be aimed at other ASIC manufacturers like MicroBT or Canaan.
Mining industry sources indicated that CBP has held some of these shipments for two months, and delays are being observed nationwideincluding important ports such as San Francisco and Detroit.
So far, CBP has not provided a specific reason for these actions nor has it set a timeline for the release of the shipments. This situation has caused confusion and concern among mining companies, since it is not a common practice in the industry.
Sources cited by Blockspace speculate that the hold could be related to Antminer control boards that use chips from Sophgo, a company that has been under scrutiny. for allegedly violating US sanctions by supplying chips to Huawei.
This Chinese tech giant has been subject to sanctions since 2019 and shares a CEO, Micree Zhan, with Bitmain. After a Sophgo chip was discovered in a Huawei device, the company TSMC decided to cut business relations with Sophgo.
Although there is no clear evidence to confirm that the stoppage of imports is specifically due to Sophgo scrutiny, it has been confirmed that Bitmain uses and even commercializes the Sophgo CV1835 chip in the Antminer T21 and certain S19 series models, including the S19k Pro, S19 XP, S19 Pro and some S19j Pro models.
Since Sophgo may be under investigation by the US Department of Commerce, it is speculated that both the FCC and CBP are reviewing these shipments for the presence of these chips.
HoweverBitmain, like the other ASIC miner manufacturers, sources control boards from multiple supplierswhich suggests that not all affected models necessarily contain the chip in question.
The ASIC miners retained by the US are considered among the most innovative and powerful on the market, as reported by CriptoNoticias, which adds an additional level of impact to mining companies. who depend on these technologies for their Bitcoin mining operations.
This article was created using artificial intelligence and edited by a human Editor.
