Oman Hosts Second Crypto Mining Center Within 10 Months

A new cryptocurrency mining center has been launched by the Sultanate of Oman, the second mining facility to open in the country in the last ten months.

The Oman Daily Observer, a local publication, reported that a data hosting and cryptocurrency mining center had been opened in the Salalah Free Zone. This zone is a particular economic area with low corporate taxes. The center will be run by a local company, Exahertz, in partnership with Dubai-based blockchain firm Moonwalk Systems.

According to a report, the center’s construction reportedly cost 135 million Omani rials, approximately $350 million. The center will utilize the latest hardware from Bitmain Technologies and is planning to set up 15,000 machines by October 2023. Currently, it is operating in a pilot regime with 2,000 machines online, consuming 11 megawatts of power.

In this regard, Omani Minister of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology Said Hamoud al Maawali said the recently established data centers are a significant accomplishment in Oman’s journey towards digital transformation, adding that these centers will expedite the growth of Oman’s digital economy and generate fresh opportunities for the citizens of Oman.

For his part, CEO of Moonwalk Systems and Strategic Partner of Exahertz International Sam Ferdows announced plans to establish a more comprehensive network of blockchain-based data centers in the Sultanate of Oman, with a pilot location in Salalah.

This mining facility is part of a larger initiative to accelerate the digitalization of Oman’s economy, which relies on oil exports. Another mining center costing 150 million Omani rials ($389 million) opened in November 2022. As of 2022, business operators in Oman pay 0.064 rials ($0.166) per kilowatt hour for electricity.

On July 27, the government of Oman recently released a consultation paper on a national crypto framework. This framework may require digital asset providers to establish a local office in Oman and hold a smaller fraction of assets in hot wallets.