Marathon, Zero Two to launch sustainable mining operation in Abu Dhabi

Marathon Digital Holdings and Zero Two announced a new Middle Eastern mining operation in a press release on May 9.

The first mining site as part of the operation will be in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City. It will have an energy capacity of 200 megawatts (MW).

The second mining site will be located in Mina Zayed — Abu Dhabi’s port area — with an energy capacity of 50 megawatts (MW).

Both sites should be active by the end of 2023 with 7 EH/s of hashrate.

Sustainable energy

Marathon and Zero Two said that the operation would use Abu Dhabi’s excess energy and improve the sustainability of the city’s energy grid. The companies will also purchase clean energy certificates to offset any non-sustainable energy use.

The companies said they ran a pilot program to test the possibility of immersion mining in Abu Dhabi. Immersion mining — which involves submerging mining devices in a liquid coolant — is difficult in hot climates. However, two companies were able to create their own immersion solution and found this approach to be feasible.

The mining operation is expected to receive $406 million in capital investment. Marathon and Zero Two said that they have already ordered equipment and infrastructure.

A joint venture

To proceed with the project, Marathon and Zero Two have established a new entity called Abu Dhabi Global Markets JV Entity, which will operate the two crypto-mining sites. Zero Two will own 80% of the entity’s equity, while Marathon will own 20% of the entity’s equity.

Marathon is among the most notable U.S.-based crypto mining companies. It reported mining 702 BTC ($20 million) in April and said that it operated 122,900 devices in total.

Little is known about Zero Two, apart from the fact that it is a blockchain infrastructure development company in Abu Dhabi and is also registered as FS Innovation.

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