The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is holding particular imports of Antminer ASIC miners at varied ports throughout the nation. Seven US-based bitcoin mining firms, who spoke anonymously, claimed that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had directed the CBP to carry sure deliveries of Bitmain ASIC miners.
Interestingly, different Chinese producers of ASIC mining gear, like MicroBT and Canaan, haven’t been subjected to the identical remedy.
Miners Face Months-Long Delay
According to Blockspace’s newest report, some shipments have been delayed for as much as two months. The hold-ups occurred at ports throughout the nation, together with these in San Francisco and Detroit. The affected imports embody Bitmain’s newest Antminer S21 and T21 fashions.
Although the CBP has acknowledged the detention of those items, it has not supplied readability on the explanations for the maintain or a timeline for releasing the shipments.
A supply coping with prolonged delays, now spanning “months,” mentioned that CBP detentions exceeding 30 days with none formal requests to the Importer of Record (IOR) are extremely unusual and fall properly under anticipated requirements.
They additionally talked about observing Advanced Targeting Unit (ATU) personnel at sure ports and famous that companies are more and more advising friends to keep away from particular entry factors, notably these alongside the West Coast. Another particular person revealed that the CBP is withholding roughly 200 items.
Despite repeated appeals for readability, each the CBP and FCC have declined to reply whereas persevering with to levy day by day holding charges which have surpassed $200,000. To deal with the matter, the affected firm has engaged a authorized staff to hunt solutions from the FCC.
Sophgo’s Huawei Link Putting Antminers within the Crosshairs?
While the precise trigger stays unknown, one potential rationalization is the presence of Sophgo chips in Antminer management boards. Sophgo has come underneath scrutiny for allegedly breaching US sanctions by supplying chips to Huawei, an organization topic to commerce restrictions since 2019.
Sophgo and Bitmain share the identical CEO, Micree Zhan. After a Sophgo chip was reportedly present in a Huawei gadget, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) ended its enterprise relationship with the corporate.
Although no definitive hyperlink has been established between the import halts and this controversy, sources verified that Bitmain makes use of the Sophgo CV1835 chip within the Antminer T21 and sure S19 fashions, together with the S19 XP, S19 Pro, and S19j Pro.
