Sep 29: Federal agents including ICE, the FBI, HSI, Texas DPS and CBP, raided the Lonestar Dream bitcoin mining site in Pyote, Texas, going straight for an ASIC repair center run by 
Bitmain-affiliated ADW Tech.
The ICE operation unfolded at sunrise and zeroed in on the contractor that keeps Antminer rigs running at the 30 MW site, recently sold by Poolin.
Law enforcement officials took 12 or 13 individuals — about half of the repair company’s staff — from the site after they failed to demonstrate proper credentials. ICE took all nationals, many of whom had expired visas.
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.
Bitmain is the world’s leading manufacturer of ASIC for bitcoin mining, and US investigators are particularly sensitive to its corporate links. Central to the probe is Sophgo (算能), a chip firm associated with Bitmain CEO Micree Zhan (詹克团). CBP was searching for restricted AI chips on the ASIC miners’ control boards from Sophgo.
Bitmain-linked repair centers in the US are facing rising government attention.
A while ago chips manufactured for Sophgo appeared in Huawei processors, prompting TSMC to halt shipments and drawing Commerce Department’s attention. If Sophgo is placed on the Entity List, it would have ripple effects for Bitmain affiliates and repair operations, explaining why agencies treated ADW Tech as a potential national-security node.
The US 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.
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.
cryptechtoday.com/chinese-bitcoi
cryptopolitan.com/ice-raids-texa
blockspace.media/insight/ice-ra
Bitmain-affiliated ADW Tech.
The ICE operation unfolded at sunrise and zeroed in on the contractor that keeps Antminer rigs running at the 30 MW site, recently sold by Poolin.
Law enforcement officials took 12 or 13 individuals — about half of the repair company’s staff — from the site after they failed to demonstrate proper credentials. ICE took all nationals, many of whom had expired visas.
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.
Bitmain is the world’s leading manufacturer of ASIC for bitcoin mining, and US investigators are particularly sensitive to its corporate links. Central to the probe is Sophgo (算能), a chip firm associated with Bitmain CEO Micree Zhan (詹克团). CBP was searching for restricted AI chips on the ASIC miners’ control boards from Sophgo.
Bitmain-linked repair centers in the US are facing rising government attention.
A while ago chips manufactured for Sophgo appeared in Huawei processors, prompting TSMC to halt shipments and drawing Commerce Department’s attention. If Sophgo is placed on the Entity List, it would have ripple effects for Bitmain affiliates and repair operations, explaining why agencies treated ADW Tech as a potential national-security node.
The US 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.
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.
cryptechtoday.com/chinese-bitcoi
cryptopolitan.com/ice-raids-texa
blockspace.media/insight/ice-ra