Bitcoin Policy Institute Report Links $23.6 Billion in Blocked U.S. Data Center Projects to China-Tied Nonprofit Network

$23.6 Billion in AI Infrastructure. One Nonprofit Network.

The Bitcoin Policy Institute released its second report on foreign influence in American AI development on June 30, 2026. The findings are specific: 21 campaigns by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) across 14 states contributed to 10 temporary data-center moratoria, one permanent ban, and four projects either rejected outright or withdrawn by developers.

The total investment delayed or killed: approximately $23.6 billion.

Two projects account for more than $17 billion of that figure. A $12 billion Blackstone-backed hyperscale campus in DeForest, Wisconsin was blocked. A $5 billion facility in Prince George's County, Maryland was halted at the permitting stage. A third campaign resulted in a permanent data-center ban in Monterey Park, California.

The Singham Connection

BPI Head of Research Sam Lyman traced PSL's leadership directly to the nonprofit network of Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. expatriate living in Shanghai who is already under federal scrutiny for alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Singham sold his software consulting firm Thoughtworks for roughly $785 million in 2017. Since then, he has built a network of nonprofits including The People's Forum, BreakThrough News, the Justice and Education Fund, and the ANSWER Coalition. According to the BPI report, the same individuals who run those organizations hold top leadership positions in the PSL.

The report further flags that Chinese state media outlets amplified anti-data-center messaging that mirrors PSL campaign materials, which BPI characterizes as coordination rather than coincidence. Total dark money flowing through Singham-linked advocacy infrastructure is estimated at over $2 billion, according to the BPI report, though the sourcing for that aggregate figure is the institute's own research.

PSL's funding is almost entirely opaque. The party files no Form 990 and is not required under federal campaign-finance law to disclose donors for year-round issue advocacy. That means, as the BPI report itself acknowledges, the public record cannot confirm whether PSL's operating money comes from Singham or foreign sources. It also cannot rule it out.

Congress Moves

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, along with two other Republican House members, sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios in late June demanding an investigation. "The fact that Chinese Communist Party-backed entities and other foreign adversaries may be attempting to influence decisions related to American data center infrastructure puts into perspective how serious of a fight we are in," Guthrie said.

Senator Tom Cotton has separately called for examination of how foreign-funded ideological campaigns are operating as local opposition to critical technology projects, according to Crypto Briefing.

The Strongest Counterargument

PCMag raised the most substantive pushback on the congressional framing: the three-page letter to the FBI cites only two reports as evidence, one from BPI and one from Power the Future, a fossil-fuel advocacy group whose own linked "investigation" of the Sierra Club traces back to a 2020 Republican letter asking the DOJ to probe environmental groups.

PCMag also noted that a Wired investigation separately found a group tied to OpenAI and Palantir funding a campaign to spread pro-AI messaging and stoke fears about China through influencers. Both sides of this debate have players with financial interests shaping the information environment.

The BPI report itself concedes the point honestly. "Americans have genuine concerns about how data centers may affect their electricity prices or strain local water resources," Sam Lyman wrote. "The purpose of this report is not to cast doubt on the earnestness or even the veracity of claims made by Americans who oppose data centers."

That caveat matters. Local opposition to data centers in communities like Prince William County, Virginia has involved residents raising real questions about power draw, water consumption, and noise. Those concerns exist independent of who funds the PSL.

What Is and Isn't Proven

What BPI has documented: leadership overlap between PSL and Singham's nonprofits, a pattern of coordinated local campaigns, Chinese state media amplification of matching narratives, and specific economic outcomes totaling $23.6 billion in delayed or killed projects.

What BPI has NOT proven: that PSL receives direct CCP funding, that Singham is directing campaign strategy from Shanghai, or that any individual local activist is a knowing participant in a foreign influence operation. No charges have been filed against Singham or the PSL in connection with the BPI report's allegations, and no investigation has been publicly announced by the FBI as of July 3, 2026.

Garry Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator, circulated the BPI findings on social media, framing the anti-AI movement broadly as less organic than it appears. That framing gets ahead of what the evidence currently supports.

Blackstone's QTS Realty Trust has reportedly abandoned its portion of the Prince William Digital Gateway, a 2,100-acre campus in Virginia that was projected to include up to 37 data-center buildings. This follows QTS selling stakes in three other Virginia data centers to Digital Realty Trust for $3.5 billion.

Whether foreign influence is the primary driver or a secondary amplifier of local resistance, the economic result is the same: over $23 billion in AI infrastructure investment is stalled. The open question now is whether the FBI takes up the congressional referral and whether any subsequent investigation can pierce PSL's funding opacity in a way the public record currently cannot.