ASIC imports blocked: the Chinese company under scrutiny for possible sanctions violations due to the chip used.
According to a report by Blockspace, U.S. Customs has been holding Bitmain Antminer S21 and T21 mining devices for nearly two months, raising questions about the technological supply chain between the U.S. and China. The situation, still unclear, reportedly involves seven American mining companies affected by this administrative hold.
The measure, requested by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is causing significant financial losses to businesses: some companies are already incurring over $200,000 in daily storage fees for 200 machines. The holds do not appear to affect other manufacturers such as MicroBT or Canaan but specifically target Bitmain, the global leader in Bitcoin mining hardware production.
Speculation suggests a possible connection to investigations into Xiamen Sophgo, a chip manufacturer under scrutiny for alleged violations of U.S. sanctions. Sophgo, founded in 2019 by Micree Zhan – CEO and co-founder of Bitmain – produces critical components such as the CV1835 chip, which has already attracted regulatory attention. This chip model is used in the Antminer T21 and some S19 series models.
This development unfolds against a geopolitical backdrop of growing technological tensions between the U.S. and China. In the background, President-elect Trump’s ambitions to make the U.S. a “global leader” in mining include statements hinting at a significant national strategy for the industry.
At this time, there is no direct evidence linking the ASIC holds to the ongoing investigations. Authorities have yet to issue official comments, while mining companies await further developments.
