Oman Launches New Cryptocurrency Mining Facility

The Sultanate of Oman, a country with a population of 4.5 million that borders Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has opened its second cryptocurrency mining facility in ten months.

According to the Oman Observer, a data hosting and cryptocurrency mining facility was inaugurated in Salalah Free Zone, a tax-free economic zone in the country.

The facility will be operated by Exahertz International in collaboration with Dubai-based blockchain company Moonwalk International.

The construction of the facility reportedly cost 135 Omani reals (approximately $370 million), and it will install 15,000 Bitmain Technologies mining devices by October 2023 using the latest hardware.

According to the report, it currently operates in pilot mode with 2,000 active machines consuming 11 megawatts of power.

The mining facility is part of an initiative to accelerate the digitalization of Oman’s oil-dependent economy. With an investment of 150 million Omani reals ($389 million), a second mining center was established in November 2022.

In 2022, the cost of electricity for businesses in the nation was RO 0.064 ($0.166) per kWh. In the summer of 2023, the government of Oman released a consultation paper on a national cryptographic framework.

The framework could mandate that providers of virtual assets establish a local office in Oman. In addition, it could require them to retain a smaller proportion of assets in hot wallets, conduct audits of protected assets, and provide evidence of reserves.