US Customs Begins Releasing Detained Bitcoin Miner Shipments

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) appears to have begun releasing some—but not all—of the Bitcoin miners previously detained at U.S. airports.

Taras Kulyk, CEO and co-founder of Synteq Digital, told Reuters on Wednesday that “thousands of mining rigs” have been released. However, not all have been freed, according to Ethan Vera, chief operating officer of Luxor, who told TheEnergyMag last week. “But it seems to be moving,” he said.

There has been little transparency regarding how many cryptocurrency and Bitcoin ASIC miners have been detained and seized by U.S. Customs since September. Early reports indicated that CBP was targeting Bitmain’s Antminers, leading to speculation that the crackdown was connected to Bitmain’s sister company, Sophgo, being added to the U.S. Entity List.

However, at least one altcoin mining rig manufacturer from Hong Kong, Bgin, which makes IceRiver equipment for the Kaspa network, revealed in an IPO prospectus that it had over 2,400 units seized by the CBP.

Meanwhile, recent ocean freight records seen by TheEnergyMag show that Bitmain and MicroBT’s factory partner have been sending S21 Pros, cooling towers, containers, and WhatsMiner parts to various U.S. ports in batches since October.

The release of some miners comes just ahead of the White House’s first-ever Crypto Summit on Friday, where U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to unveil details about a strategic Bitcoin reserve plan.