Operação da ICE em mineração de Bitcoin no Texas: Bitmain sob investigação por controle de exportação de chips

A Imigração e Controle Alfandegário dos EUA (ICE) invadiu uma instalação de mineração de Bitcoin no Texas - com laços diretos com a gigante chinesa Bitmain.

O cerco regulatório se concentra em violações potenciais dos controles de exportação de chips semicondutores.

Investigação em andamento pode redefinir as regras do jogo para equipamentos de mineração global.

Mais um lembrete de que, no mundo das criptomoedas, até os mineiros mais poderosos não podem escavar buracos através das fronteiras regulatórias.

Agents detain ADW Tech staff and seize documents

Law enforcement removed 12 or 13 workers, roughly half the repair shop staff, from the Pyote facility after they failed to show proper credentials. The same source said ICE targeted Chinese nationals and took everyone with expired visas.

The raid did not affect other local operators such as Genesis Digital Assets, which runs a 195 MW bitcoin mine in Pyote but was not a subject of this action.

ADW Tech is a Bitmain contractor and certified Antminer repair shop embedded within Lonestar Dream. The company’s presence highlights how West Texas has become a hub for mining, drawing big names with cheap power and wide land. Poolin’s recent sale of the site still left ADW Tech doing the repair work, and that is where federal scrutiny landed.

The action comes as Bitmain-linked repair centers in the U.S. face rising government attention. This raid connects with a longer story involving the Trump administration’s handling of mining hardware imports.

At the end of 2024, CBP began sporadically holding and seizing ASIC miner shipments at U.S. ports, sometimes keeping them for months and charging holding fees without explaining the flags.

Several shipments stayed detained into 2025 after Trump took office and only began to be released by late Q1 and early Q2.

Officials said they were looking for restricted AI chips on ASIC miners’ control boards from Sophgo, a semiconductor company that shares Bitmain CEO Micree Zhan.

The U.S. Department of Commerce is actively investigating possible sanctions violations by Sophgo, which ties directly to why these miners and repair hubs are now under heavy federal focus.

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