By: Ryan Weeks, Bloomberg
Translated by: Luffy, Foresight News
Once viewed by the United States as a national security threat, embroiled in controversies over mining machine safety and remote control, Bitmain is the absolute leader in the global Bitcoin mining machine industry. This mysterious Chinese company, after facing White House bans and investigations by the Department of Homeland Security, unexpectedly formed an important business alliance with Eric Trump, the second son of Donald Trump.
On one side is the Chinese mining giant, questioned for jeopardizing the safety of power grids and military bases, and on the other side is a Bitcoin company under the U.S. presidential family. Both sides have built a super mining farm in Texas, initiating a significant collaboration. This article unravels this alliance interwoven with politics and cryptocurrency, revealing how Bitmain has turned the tide against the U.S. "blacklist," becoming one of the Trump family's most critical business partners. Below is the full translation:
The Mining Machine Empire: Mysterious and Monopolistic Bitmain
From specialized data centers in rural Texas to remodeled lumber yards in Borneo, rows of shoebox-shaped machines stand tall, emitting deafening roars, sometimes even attracting complaints from neighbors. Each machine contains hundreds of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), produced at a high cost by advanced factories in Taiwan. These chips are soldered onto three enclosed power boards to perform brute force calculations, with all instructions issued by a control board. Depending on the specific model, the machines may use built-in fans or liquid cooling systems to prevent overheating of the components; no matter where they are installed, they consume massive amounts of electricity.
These devices have only one purpose: to crack Bitcoin's underlying algorithm SHA-256. SHA-256 is a so-called one-way function, meaning the only way to solve the mathematical problems it generates is through continuous trial and error. Bitcoin miners make a living this way, and once a calculation is correct, they have the right to verify others' transactions and receive Bitcoin rewards. Therefore, their profits directly depend on how many attempts per second these devices, known as "Antminer," can make: currently, it is trillions of attempts per second. A top-spec Antminer sells for up to $17,400. Large mining companies own up to 500,000 mining machines, with initial investments in the billions, but compared to potential returns, this capital expenditure is trivial, at least when cryptocurrency prices are high. Some users liken it to owning a printer that prints lottery tickets, only with a much better chance of winning.
The Antminer is the flagship product of Bitmain Technologies Ltd. The company not only dominates the Bitcoin mining machine production industry, but for much of its development history, it has almost been the industry itself, with a market share exceeding 80%. Few companies can achieve such absolute control in a global industry: Alphabet Inc. in the search domain is one; tracing back decades, perhaps De Beers, which at its peak accounted for over three-quarters of global diamond production; or even institutions like the Dutch East India Company, which monopolized long-distance spice trade centuries ago. However, unlike these historical monopolists, many aspects of Bitmain remain a mystery.
In 2017, Bitmain mining machines at a mining farm in China
The company is not publicly listed, and its website does not disclose the global headquarters, CEO, or board member list. The person closest to the company is co-founder Jihan Wu, who rarely appears in public and is no longer the chairperson, but the outside world is unclear when he stepped down, who succeeded him, or even whether there is a successor. Until recent months, Bitmain's spokesperson consistently refused to clarify even the most basic company structure and governance information, including the identity of major shareholders. Due to the company's sales of multiple models of mining machines at different price points, estimates of its annual revenue vary widely. An executive collaborating closely with Bitmain, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cited internal research to estimate its annual sales at between $2 billion and $3 billion. But even this figure may be at most a well-informed guess.
However, two things are clear: first, Bitmain's headquarters is in China; second, it has formed an alliance with one of President Donald Trump's children. Eric Trump, the president's second son, is the co-founder and chief strategic officer of American Bitcoin Corp., based in Miami. The company went public in New York last September, and his shares were valued at around $548 million at that time (after which, the share price significantly dropped due to the overall sell-off of cryptocurrency assets). Eric's brother, Donald Trump Jr., is also an investor, and the size of his holdings has not been disclosed. American Bitcoin stated that it plans to procure thousands of Bitmain Antminers to ultimately become the world's largest Bitcoin mining company and has already collaborated with this Chinese company to develop a large data center in Texas.
This collaboration represents a stunning turnaround for Bitmain. Just a short time ago, it faced potentially life-threatening challenges: escalating investigations in the U.S., questioning whether its equipment constituted a national security threat. In May 2024, the White House ordered the dismantling of thousands of Bitmain mining machines near a U.S. Air Force nuclear missile base. Last year, a report from the Senate Intelligence Committee warned that Bitmain mining machines near some military bases "pose an unacceptable risk." In November, Bloomberg reported that Bitmain had been a focus of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, aimed at determining whether Antminers could be remotely controlled for the purpose of sabotaging power grids or being repurposed for espionage. Sources disclosed that an investigation, dubbed "Red Sun," commenced during the Biden administration and continued into the early Trump administration, with both administrations' National Security Councils discussing it.
Bitmain has not responded in detail to inquiries regarding potential security risks but stated in a December release that the company complies with all applicable laws and that reports about its ongoing investigation "are seriously inaccurate and constitute fake news." A spokesperson for American Bitcoin stated that the company "adheres to rigorous standards regarding national security, power grid stability, and operational safety," and "believes that as long as mining hardware is deployed according to modern industrial safety standards, it will not pose a threat to the U.S. power grid or national security."
Bitmain's Irene Gao, photographed in 2025
The current status of the "Red Sun" initiative remains unclear; the Department of Homeland Security told Bloomberg Businessweek that it "cannot comment on an ongoing investigation." But Bitmain's collaboration with American Bitcoin continues, and its aggressive expansion into the U.S. has not stopped. In recent months, the company has opened up slightly to the outside world. For this report, Bitmain arranged for global sales director Irene Gao to be interviewed. She praised Trump's pro-cryptocurrency policies as "a very good thing in the eyes of most of our clients," but when asked about basic information such as the names of core executives aside from CEO Yang Cunyong, she deflected. "We just don't want to disclose any company information in this manner," Irene Gao said.
The Shadow of Security: U.S. National Security Investigations and Encirclement
Alongside the speculators seeking quick riches, the cryptocurrency industry has attracted two types of people since its inception: tech geeks and ardent believers. The former focus mainly on the computational and mathematical challenges of creating and trading digital assets; the latter are obsessed with the potential of these tools to change global finance.
The two Chinese entrepreneurs who founded Bitmain belong to these two camps. Jihan Wu comes from a background in chip design and previously founded a startup that developed television set-top boxes. Micree Zhan was an investment analyst who later became obsessed with cryptocurrencies; notably, he translated the original Bitcoin white paper from English to Chinese. Their collaboration began in 2013 over a dinner in Beijing. Wu has said that the next morning he went to Wikipedia to read about cryptocurrencies and immediately decided to start a business with Zhan. According to multiple insiders who have interacted with both men and requested anonymity due to concerns of retaliation, they share some common traits: both are somewhat socially awkward, incredibly low-profile throughout their careers, rarely appear in public or give interviews; sources say they both become agitated under pressure; Wu, whose voice is deep and hoarse, has been witnessed loudly reprimanding employees, with an entire building able to hear him.
When Wu and Zhan founded Bitmain in 2013, Bitcoin mining was not yet dominated by publicly traded giant data centers as it is today. It was a world where enthusiasts were frantically chasing the latest cutting-edge devices. That year, Bitcoin first broke through the $1,000 mark; this cryptocurrency was still in its infancy, and the vast majority of tokens had yet to be mined. At that time, better mining machines could still lead to significant increases in overall network computing power, which is a measure of the computing capacity required to process transactions. As long as miners could get their hands on the most advanced mining machines quickly, they could guarantee profits.
In 2017, Bitmain employees
Bitmain launched its first mining machine, the Antminer S1, in November 2013. By today’s standards, it was very rudimentary, lacking even a casing, with the power boards and wires exposed. However, as one of the earliest mining machines based on ASIC chips, it was one of the most powerful devices at the time, representing a qualitative leap over competitors and driving the industry toward dedicated hardware. Subsequent generations of Antminers made even more significant advances, with each iteration almost redefining the market: if miners did not buy the latest models, they simply could not compete.
In 2017, Bitcoin's price surged over 250%, further driving demand for Antminers. A round of private financing in mid-2018 valued Bitmain at $12 billion. Its growth drew widespread attention, and a new round of financing in August 2018 even found its way to Jeffrey Epstein's desk. Communications released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January this year showed that the disgraced financier was urgently seeking to invest up to $3 million in Bitmain's holding company but had some concerns about the deal structure. The documents do not indicate whether this investment ultimately came to fruition.
Shortly after this communication, Bitmain submitted a listing application in Hong Kong, revealing revenues of $2.5 billion, a substantial increase from $137 million two years earlier. The prospectus showed that Wu held about 36% of the shares at that time, while Zhan held about 20%, with both men having net worths reaching several billion dollars. Other stakeholders included Sequoia Capital China Fund, IDG Capital, and Coatue. However, betting wealth on rising cryptocurrency prices also meant facing disaster when prices fell. As the market crashed again, the listing plans ultimately stalled. The entire industry entered what is called a "crypto winter," a prolonged period of price stagnation. Meanwhile, Wu and Zhan's cooperative relationship began to show signs of strain. According to sources with knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity, the divisions originated from strategic disagreements: Wu hoped Bitmain would venture into artificial intelligence, repurposing chips for applications such as training facial recognition technologies; while the cryptocurrency faithful Zhan opposed deviating from the company’s original mission.
At the end of 2019, Zhan attempted to take full control of the company, and Wu was removed from his positions as legal representative and chairman. Wu then filed a lawsuit in the Cayman Islands, where Bitmain’s holding company is registered. A lengthy power struggle ensued, reaching a dramatic climax with a physical confrontation at a government office in Beijing. Former journalist Hazel Hu witnessed this incident in 2020. She recalls that while Wu was waiting to collect Bitmain's physical business license at the Haidian District Market Supervision Administration, his supporters clashed with Zhan's supporters present, and both sides began to grapple for the document. The police quickly dispatched from a nearby station to stop the conflict, which had spread downstairs and into the street.
The following year, Zhan admitted defeat and resigned as CEO and chairman of Bitmain. (The disputes were eventually settled; Zhan now serves as chairman of mining machine manufacturer Bitdeer Group and a cryptocurrency investment platform.) Despite the internal turmoil, Bitmain continued to expand, especially after Bitcoin prices began to rise again in 2020. As the mathematical challenges between mining companies and profits grew increasingly complex, Antminers became essential. "They are currently the most efficient devices," said Vishnu Mackenchery, senior director of corporate development at U.S. Compass Mining.
Antminers being assembled at a factory in Shenzhen
At that time, Bitmain's sales were highly concentrated in the domestic market. Data from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance indicated that in 2019, China accounted for about three-quarters of the global Bitcoin mining power. However, in 2021, the Chinese government severely cracked down on the cryptocurrency mining industry, citing high energy consumption and carbon emissions. The result was a massive outflow of miners to regions with relatively cheap electricity and a friendly regulatory environment—conditions particularly notable in certain areas of the U.S. As a mining machine manufacturer rather than a mining company, Bitmain was not shut down, continuing operations in Beijing, and establishing distribution centers across Southeast Asia. But from that point on, its future would be determined by the U.S.
Following the adjustment of Chinese policies, Bitmain ramped up sales to American miners and expanded a side business to manage mining operations for U.S. clients. In order to create a public face for the company in the U.S., it also relocated Irene Gao to America. Shortly after graduating college in 2016, Irene Gao joined Bitmain and spent years dragging a suitcase across various cities, promoting products to clients. Like much information about Bitmain, sales figures and market shares during this period remain opaque, but industry veterans assert that there is no doubt it is becoming a dominant player.
However, the company soon found itself affected by geopolitical tensions. During Donald Trump's first administration, the White House imposed a 25% tariff on a variety of Chinese-made electronics, and Bitmain began rerouting products through Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia—common practices among Chinese manufacturers, though U.S. authorities considered this a violation of customs regulations. Trump's administration essentially maintained these tariffs, and in 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspected a batch of Antminers sent to Connecticut mining company Sphere 3D Corp. Upon opening one of the devices, inspectors discovered small "Made in China" labels on internal components. According to Sphere 3D's then-CEO Patricia Trompeter, this batch of 4,000 mining machines was held for three months. Due to concerns of further delays, some miners began to diversify their risks and shifted orders to competitors that had already established manufacturing bases in the U.S., while Bitmain had yet to do so.
The most severe accusations against Bitmain were far more deadly than tariff avoidance: whether its mining machines could be tampered with for purposes beyond mining. In 2017, suspicions began circulating in the crypto community when an industry media outlet reported that Antminers contained embedded code allowing Bitmain to shut them down remotely. The company soon confirmed the existence of this code but stated that its purpose was legitimate, namely to make the machines inoperable if stolen, similar to how Apple allows users to lock lost iPhones. Bitmain later said it had removed this feature, but two years later, a technology blogger discovered similar code again; the company promptly released a security patch.
According to an anonymous individual familiar with internal confidential reviews, during the Biden administration, U.S. officials commissioned a study to evaluate whether Bitmain's mining machines and other Chinese-manufactured mining machines might pose a national security risk. This individual stated that the investigation was two-pronged: first, whether the machines could be used for espionage. Crypto hardware experts believe that given their highly specialized engineering design, this possibility is extremely low, if not completely impossible; second, and a point of greater concern for the U.S. government: the potential impact of remote shutoffs on the U.S. power grid.
When a large electricity-consuming entity (such as a steel plant) goes offline, it is usually a planned, gradual process, with power consumption tapering down over two days or longer. The power consumption of Bitcoin mining farms may be comparable but can be shut off in seconds. This individual noted that U.S. officials worry that such "shocking events" could result in sudden imbalances between electricity generation and consumption, potentially disrupting power stability. The most frightening scenario is if China's side remotely instructs the shutdown of thousands of Bitmain mining machines located near military bases or other critical infrastructure relying on the same power source. "Anyone hacking into an entire data center, whether it's AI, cryptocurrency, or cloud service data centers, could severely disrupt the power grid," said Michael Bedford Taylor, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Washington, but he also advises that Bitmain itself is unlikely to have such motives.
In the spring of 2024, the Biden administration publicly expressed safety concerns over a mining farm located near Cheyenne, Wyoming, covering 12 acres, where a company with ties to China had installed up to 15,000 mining machines, most of which came from Bitmain. The investors of this mining farm hope it can one day become one of the largest in the U.S. and benefit from Wyoming's low land costs and abundant power resources. It just happens to be about a mile away from Warren Air Force Base, one of three U.S. Air Force bases that deploy land-based nuclear missiles.
On May 13, 2024, Biden issued an executive order mandating the mining farm operator MineOne Partners LLC to shut down the project. The document stated that the U.S. Foreign Investment Committee had "identified national security risks." Although it did not explicitly mention power grid concerns, the order noted risks including "the presence of dedicated foreign-sourced equipment that could facilitate surveillance and espionage." The batch of mining machines was quickly loaded onto trucks and removed.
Political Alliance: Joining Forces with the Trump Family to Turn the Tide
This was a significant and public setback, as the U.S. government clearly linked Bitmain's equipment to at least the possibility of malicious use. However, just a few months later, the company began to advance a project that could completely change its situation.
In 2017, a Bitmain mining farm in China
According to Michael Ho, a Chinese Canadian businessman and partner in Eric Trump's cryptocurrency venture, a series of meetings that led to the presidential son’s formation of a Bitcoin mining company began at the end of 2024. Like Bitmain co-founder Micree Zhan, Michael Ho is also an ardent believer; he loves to boast that he mined his first Bitcoin before reaching the legal drinking age as a teenager. At the time he met Eric, he and his partner Asher Genoot operated Hut 8 Corp., a mining company based in Miami that was a major customer of Bitmain’s Antminers.
Michael Ho recalls that the two initially "met through many mutual friends in the Florida circle." He said their relationship quickly heated up after several meetings in Miami and the surrounding areas, including a discussion at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter. Eric Trump, who has long served as an executive in the family’s real estate business, was becoming more and more involved in the crypto space. After previously calling Bitcoin a scam, his father embraced the industry during the campaign, promising to make the U.S. a "Bitcoin superpower" at a Nashville event. In September 2024, the Trump family launched a company called World Liberty Financial, with the grand yet somewhat vague vision of enabling "everyone to access tools and opportunities that have long been restricted."
Initially, World Liberty Financial appeared to be failing, as speculators essentially ignored its initial token offering. These tokens did not grant holders rights to share in the company’s income, and could not be resold after purchase, totally contradicting the original purpose of traditional investment. However, after Trump was reelected, the situation rapidly changed: the prices of various digital assets skyrocketed, and businesspeople eager to get close to the presidential family and secure resources poured investments into its numerous enterprises. The Wall Street Journal reported in February this year that a significant member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, agreed to invest $500 million in World Liberty Financial shortly before the president's inauguration.
In September last year, Eric Trump, co-founder and chief strategy officer of American Bitcoin, and CEO Michael Ho were interviewed by Bloomberg Television in New York
Michael Ho stated that persuading Eric to enter the mining industry was not difficult. "After we communicated face to face and deepened our understanding, we hit it off quickly," he said during an interview with Bloomberg News last year. In March 2025, the two publicly announced their intricate plans. Just a month prior, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. had been involved in the founding of American Data Centers. Now, Hut 8 would acquire 80% of the shares of this company using mining machines as payment, rather than cash or stock. After acquiring all of Hut 8's Bitmain machines, American Data Centers would rebrand as American Bitcoin. Investor presentations claimed that the goal of this new enterprise was "to become the largest and most efficient professional Bitcoin mining company globally while building a strong strategic Bitcoin reserve."
Just a few months later, American Bitcoin decided to go public, not through the traditional IPO required disclosures and strict scrutiny, but through a merger with a small company, Gryphon Digital Mining Inc. This method is commonly adopted by crypto companies and has received regulatory approval. Michael Ho became CEO, Genoot served as executive chairman, and Eric handled business strategy, though due to his numerous other business interests, the amount of time he could devote was expected to be quite limited. An American Bitcoin spokesperson stated that Eric is "a key member of the company's leadership team."
This ultimately led to an awkward situation. As a candidate, Donald Trump had promised to ensure Bitcoin would be "mined, minted, and manufactured in the U.S.," yet the Antminers relied on by American Bitcoin are entirely Chinese products. Just a year earlier, the Biden administration had classified these mining machines as potential national security threats, yet now they were to make money for the two sons of the next president. Perhaps realizing these contradictions and the overall "America First" public sentiment, Bitmain quickly announced adjustments to some business plans. Irene Gao stated the company would establish a new headquarters and assembly line in Texas or Florida and employ 250 locals.
Bitmain's circuit boards
As these plans progressed, Michael Ho downplayed security concerns about Bitmain's products. "The facts have proven that these ASIC chips are programmed for one purpose only: to compute against the SHA-256 algorithm," he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in September. He described selecting Bitmain mining machines as sourcing the most advanced technology: "Bitmain remains the most competitive and efficient."
Even with the most powerful equipment, Bitcoin mining is now harder to make a profit than ever before. Over the past six months, Bitcoin prices have dropped over 40% to around $74,000 each, with roughly 95% of the fixed supply already mined. American Bitcoin's stock price has fallen nearly 90% from its high in September last year, and it is now valued at around $960 million. On February 26, the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $59 million. Despite this, Eric’s connection to the company still brings him substantial returns. Filing documents show no signs that he invested large sums at the company's inception, but at current stock prices, his shares are worth around $75 million. If Bitcoin rebounds, whether driven by changes in government policy or other market factors, the value of his and Donald Jr.'s holdings is likely to rise significantly.
Bitmain is working with customers to resolve allegations of security vulnerabilities. Months after the Biden administration ordered the dismantlement of Bitmain machines near the Wyoming nuclear missile base, U.S. mining company CleanSpark Inc. took over the site. The company quickly reinstalled the machines it procured from Bitmain's U.S. subsidiary, with contracts stipulating that all equipment "is not sourced from China" or any country subject to U.S. sanctions. CleanSpark stated in a release that prioritizes national security, "operating completely legally," adding that its operating agreement in Wyoming "was only finalized after obtaining the approval of the U.S. Foreign Investment Committee."
Meanwhile, American Bitcoin is expanding its cooperation with Bitmain. In September, the company disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to procure over 16,000 additional Antminers. The terms are unusual: the company does not need to pay cash but can buy the machines through "staking" Bitcoin, with prices undisclosed, essentially amounting to an option structure that can be exercised at any time within two years. Some industry experts consider this arrangement, especially the lengthy exercise period, to be extremely generous for American Bitcoin.
Another collaborative project between the two companies is taking shape in the Panhandle region of Texas: a data center the size of about five football fields, likely to be one of the largest Bitcoin mines globally. Bitmain and American Bitcoin jointly designed this project named Vega, which began operations in June. According to Michael Ho, the mining farm is equipped with new liquid-cooled Antminers.
Bitmain views American Bitcoin more as a partner than merely a customer. Last year, Irene Gao and Genoot co-attended a cryptocurrency conference, Bitcoin Asia held in Hong Kong. They sat on stage, behind them the big screen showcased the Vega project, reportedly with construction costs reaching $500 million. Irene Gao claimed that Bitmain's latest model, the S23 Hydro Antminer, had received over $1 billion in pre-sale orders. This practical gray mining machine has an individual price of $17,400. "All these machines will be produced in the U.S.," she said.
The next day, Irene Gao gave an interview to a Business Weekly reporter in a suite at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on the Hong Kong waterfront. She emphasized that sales of Antminers and joint projects like Vega are just the beginning of Bitmain's cooperation with American Bitcoin. "We can flexibly collaborate with them, fully customizing according to their needs," she said, "We will deploy the mining machines in their infrastructure, selling either in packages to our clients or to their affiliates." However, she repeatedly declined to answer more specific questions about the relationship between the two companies.
The topic Irene Gao is most eager to discuss is her optimism about the future of Bitcoin, especially Bitmain's future. She stated that part of her confidence stems from developments at such conferences. "You will see many influential people," she said, "not just crypto enthusiasts but representatives from traditional finance." Among them is the heavyweight guest who will speak the next day: Eric Trump. He will ignite the crowd with an exciting prediction: Bitcoin prices will exceed $1 million, about 14 times the current level. "This is a good sign," Irene Gao noted regarding the attendance numbers, "a scene of prosperity."
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