Marathon Partners With Zero Two To Build BTC Mining Facilities in Abu Dhabi

On Tuesday, May 9th, the Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital announced it is partnering with Zero Two to build two large mining facilities in Abu Dhabi. The location will have a combined capacity of 250 megawatts and will utilize a custom-built immersion system for cooling ASIC machines in the desert heat.

Marathon and Zero Two Working on Large-Scale Sustainable BTC Mining Operation

According to a Marathon Digital press release, the Bitcoin miner has partnered with an Abu Dhabi-based company called Zero Two to build large-scale mining facilities in the city. Zero Two, registered under the name FS Innovation, is an emerging development company focused on providing digital assets and blockchain infrastructure.

The first two locations are already under construction and will have a combined capacity of 250 megawatts. Zero Two will be the owner of 80% of the facilities and Marathon of 20%. The mined cryptocurrency will be distributed between the companies based on ownership. 

Unlike most other sites which use air-cooling for their mining rigs, the Abu Dhabi location will utilize a custom-built immersion system to better meet the challenges posed by the local climate. Commenting on today’s joint venture, Marathon’s CEO stated he is hoping the project will help “build the next-generation Bitcoin mining facilities in Abu Dhabi.” 

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The Operation’s Impact On the Energy Grid

The facilities are designed to utilize Abu Dhabi’s surplus energy and help stabilize the city’s power grid. The operation is also designed to help with sustainability and will offset any non-green electricity produced with clean-energy certificates. 

The announcement comes shortly after the White House unveiled its proposal for a punitive tax on cryptocurrency miners. The DAME Tax envisions raising more than $3 billion from such companies over the course of several years and is set at 30%. One of the key reasons behind the proposal is the claim that cryptocurrency miners have a disproportionately adverse effect on the environment.

The bill follows several local laws proposed and passed in various US states that either seek to protect the rights of miners—as in Arkansas—or disincentivize their operations—as in Texas. Regulation in the US, with regard to digital assets, has often been called lackluster and has led multiple digital assets companies to seek a more aggressive strategy for offshore expansion with Coinbase being a major recent example.

Do you think more cryptocurrency miners will seek to move to places like Abu Dhabi? Let us know in the comments below.