Marathon Digital announces immersion crypto mining operations in Abu Dhabi

Crypto mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings announced it has partnered with digital assets infrastructure company Zero Two to create a large-scale immersion Bitcoin-mining facility in Abu Dhabi.

In a May 9 notice, Marathon Digital said the joint venture will be based in Mina Zayed and Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, comprising two mining sites with a combined 250-megawatt capacity. According to the firm, Marathon and Zero Two plan to power the facilities with excess energy from Abu Dhabi’s grid, claiming it will increase its base load and sustainability.

Crypto mining in the desert climate of Abu Dhabi — where the average annual temperature is roughly 28 degrees Celsius (82 degree Fahrenheit) — was often “infeasible,” according to Marathon Digital. The firm said it had helped develop a “custom-built immersion solution” to cool mining rigs at the proposed facilities, suggesting a liquid-cooling solution.

“For this project, our team successfully co-developed and implemented a full immersion solution, as well as developed proprietary mining software from the ground up to provide flexibility, resilience, and optimization,” said Marathon Digital chair and CEO Fred Thiel.

We are excited to share details of our new #Bitcoin mining sites in the UAE. Owned and operated via a joint venture with Zero Two, this initiative marks the first large-scale immersion Bitcoin mining operations in the Middle East. Learn more: https://t.co/vFROdM6urR— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) May 9, 2023

Ownership of the project, called the Abu Dhabi Global Markets JV Entity, will be split between Zero Two and Marathon Digital, with the two companies controlling 80% and 20%, respectively. The two firms expect both Abu Dhabi facilities to be online by 2024 and produce a combined hash rate of roughly 7 EH/s.

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The report of the planned mining operation came amid executives from United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase visiting the UAE to test the potential of the region as a “strategic hub” for its international operations. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong met with policymakers and spoke at the Dubai FinTech Summit.

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