US President Joe Biden has told a Chinese-owned company that they need to sell some land they have near a US nuclear missile base. This decision is because of worries about spying.

The company, MineOne Partners, mainly belongs to people from China. They have been given four months to sell the land. They use this land for their cryptocurrency mining business. The land is very close to an air force base in Wyoming. At this base, there are missiles that can go very far.

The White House is worried because having this foreign-owned land so near to a base with powerful missiles is risky. They are concerned that the equipment used for mining cryptocurrencies might be used for spying.

The air force base in Wyoming has important nuclear missiles called Minuteman III. MineOne bought the land near this base in 2022 and then set up their mining equipment there.

A group called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) looks at deals that might be dangerous for the country’s safety. They were not told about MineOne buying the land, which is a problem, according to the White House. They only found out because someone told them about it.

After looking into it, the panel, led by the US Treasury Department, decided that this purchase was not safe for national security.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that President Biden’s choice to make MineOne sell the land shows how important it is to keep an eye on foreign investments, so they don’t hurt the country’s safety.

Many US lawmakers are worried about Chinese companies buying land close to important military places.

This announcement from the White House came just before they were going to raise taxes on some things that come from China, like electric cars.