DETROIT, March 5 (Reuters) – U.S. authorities have begun returning confiscated Chinese-made cryptocurrency mining equipment in recent weeks, according to two industry executives. Cryptocurrency miners are advanced computers with high-performance chips that compete with each other to solve mathematical problems. The process helps form the blockchains that underpin the cryptocurrency world and allows for rewards in the form of the new digital currency. “Thousands of units have been returned,” said Taras Kulyk, CEO and co-founder of Synteq Digital, a crypto mining equipment broker. At one point, as many as 10,000 units were being held at various entry points, Kulyk told Reuters. “It appears that there were some people at CBP who really disapproved of bitcoin mining, and they were looking to make trouble for the entire sector, which they were quite successful in doing,” he said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Communications Commission began seizing certain types of bitcoin mining equipment late last year, industry publication Blockspace reported in November , opens new tab . The article mentioned that some of the machines may have been detained because they contained chips from a Chinese company called Sophgo, which is under a trade ban. The return of an unspecified amount of equipment comes amid the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, as well as security concerns raised by U.S. authorities in the final months of the Biden administration. Ethan Vera, chief operating officer of Luxor Technology, told Reuters that “some detained shipments are being released, but it’s still a minority.” Both Vera and Kulik noted that authorities have raised concerns about the machines’ radio frequency emissions, which they say are unfounded. A CBP spokesman acknowledged Reuters’ request for comment on Wednesday but did not immediately provide a response. The FCC also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As Reuters reported in October, Sophgo was sanctioned in the final days of the Biden administration for allegedly acting as an intermediary between Taiwanese high-end chipmaker TSMC and blacklisted Chinese telecoms company Huawei.

Source: cryptonews.net