The capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi is all set to experience one of the world’s first large-scale bitcoin mining operations in the Middle East with a complex developed by a joint venture between Zero Two and Marathon Digital Holdings.
According to a statement released by the two companies involved, they will establish a joint venture entity called Abu Dhabi Global Markets JV Entity, responsible for creating and managing two digital asset mining locations. These locations will have a total capacity of 250 megawatts.
One of the mining locations with a capacity of 200 megawatts will be situated within the Masdar City sustainability hub, while the other, with a capacity of 50 megawatts, will be located in the port zone of Mina Zayed.
Marathon and Zero Two have stated their plan to use surplus energy in Abu Dhabi and compensate for any electricity generated through unsustainable means by acquiring clean energy certificates.
The two firms entered into a partnership after agreeing to split the ownership. Marathon Digital is to acquire 80% and on the other hand, Zero Two is to acquire the remaining 20%.
The hot climate around the Middle Eastern region made the bitcoin mining process impractical but Marathon Digital and Zero Two have come together to build up a new complex that makes the bitcoin mining process in the desert feasible.
The two sites allocated for the mining process are expected to have a combined hash rate of 7 EH/s and the operations are all set to begin before the year ends.
According to the CEO and chairman of Marathon, they have co-developed and implemented a complete immersion solution. Besides, the team has also developed proprietary mining software to provide resilience, flexibility and optimization for the project. The UAE has experienced considerable growth across the nation in crypto-related activities particularly after the regulatory uncertainties in the US have prompted people to seek more favorable jurisdictions.
