Federal brokers on Monday raided the Lonestar Dream bitcoin mining web site in Pyote, Texas, going straight for an ASIC restore middle run by Bitmain-affiliated ADW Tech, in response to a report from Blockspace.
The Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation unfolded at dawn and zeroed in on the contractor that retains Antminer rigs operating on the 30 MW web site, not too long ago offered by Poolin.
Witnesses allegedly stated the raid seemed like a struggle scene. “Helicopters, snipers, armed males,” one supply informed Blockspace whereas describing an ICE helicopter circling above earlier than “a cavalcade of black Tahoes arrived on the scene.”
He added brokers requested “main questions… ‘who does this, who does that.’” A number of businesses had been current: ICE, the FBI, Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI), Texas Division of Public Security (DPS), and U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP) all took half, in response to an individual on web site.
Brokers detain ADW Tech employees and seize paperwork
Legislation enforcement eliminated 12 or 13 employees, roughly half the restore store employees, from the Pyote facility after they failed to point out correct credentials. The identical supply stated ICE focused Chinese language nationals and took everybody with expired visas.
The raid didn’t have an effect on different native operators similar to Genesis Digital Belongings, which runs a 195 MW bitcoin mine in Pyote however was not a topic of this motion.
ADW Tech is a Bitmain contractor and licensed Antminer restore store embedded inside Lonestar Dream. The corporate’s presence highlights how West Texas has turn out to be a hub for mining, drawing huge names with low-cost energy and huge land. Poolin’s current sale of the positioning nonetheless left ADW Tech doing the restore work, and that’s the place federal scrutiny landed.
The motion comes as Bitmain-linked restore facilities within the U.S. face rising authorities consideration. This raid connects with an extended story involving the Trump administration’s dealing with of mining {hardware} imports.
On the finish of 2024, CBP started sporadically holding and seizing ASIC miner shipments at U.S. ports, generally conserving them for months and charging holding charges with out explaining the flags.
A number of shipments stayed detained into 2025 after Trump took workplace and solely started to be launched by late Q1 and early Q2.
Officers stated they had been on the lookout for restricted AI chips on ASIC miners’ management boards from Sophgo, a semiconductor firm that shares Bitmain CEO Micree Zhan.
The U.S. Division of Commerce is actively investigating doable sanctions violations by Sophgo, which ties on to why these miners and restore hubs are actually below heavy federal focus.
