As the US increasingly squares off against China, one group is fighting to leave open the door to more business

As the US increasingly squares off against China, one group is fighting to leave open the door to more business from the Asian nation — Arkansas Bitcoin miners.

As the US increasingly squares off against China, one group is fighting to leave open the door to more business from the Asian nation: Arkansas Bitcoin miners.

The Arkansas Cryptomining Association, which represents Bitcoin miners in the Natural State, is accusing Arkansas, its attorney general and the head of its Oil and Gas Commission of unlawfully discriminating against Chinese people and their US partners.

The assertion came in a federal lawsuit filed on March 13 in response to a law Arkansas passed last year as legislators grew concerned about Bitcoin mining’s cybersecurity risk, noise pollution and excessive use of water and electricity.

The state legislature, which also expressed worries about an "invasion" of the US by foreign-owned companies, decided to ban any involvement by people on the US State Department’s roster of “countries of particular concern” — a list that includes China — in mining outfits.

This measure, which came amid a broader push from Washington to expel foreign-owned crypto mining facilities from the US, also grants municipalities the power to impose restrictions on Bitcoin mines.

The Treasury to intervene

Last year, the US Department of the Treasury, in coordination with the Department of Defense, expanded an existing rule to prevent foreign-owned crypto mining facilities from establishing operations near sensitive military sites.

In May, then-President Joseph Biden invoked this rule and directed the MineOne, a Chinese-backed crypto mining firm, to divest its property in close proximity to a US Air Force base in Wyoming.

For his part, former President Donald Trump has presented Bitcoin mining as an important strategic industry and vowed to make the US the “crypto capital of the world.”

“We want all the remaining Bitcoin to be made in the USA!!!,” Trump wrote on social media last year.

The reality on the ground in Arkansas complicates the picture.

The Arkansas Cryptomining Association represents Bitcoin miners in the Natural State, at least two of which — Jones Eagle and NewRays One — are owned by Chinese-Americans.

Lawyers for the Association did not immediately respond to DL News' questions about the Association's membership.