Abu Dhabi to have 7.1 exahashes online in January says Marathon Digital

Abu Dhabi to have 7.1 exahashes online in January says Marathon Digital

In a recent press release published by Marathon Digital Holdings, Bitcoin mining entity, the company showcased its unaudited Bitcoin production stating that in January 2024 their Abu Dhabi facilities will have a total of 7.1 exahashes online.

According to the CEO of Marathon Digital Fred Thiel, the operations in Abu Dhabi UAE currently has 2.7 exahashes online and includes over 13,000 rigs energized at their second larger facility in Masdar City. As he stated, “the remaining 4.4 exahashes are still expected to be online in January 2024.”

In November Marathon Digital had reported that 7.5 exahashes would be online by the end of 2023.

Marathon Digital by December had increased their energized hash rate 4% to 24.7 exahashes and extended their lead as the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner in North America. As per Thiel, “We continue to target 30% growth in energized hash rate in 2024 and with the recently announced acquisition of the two sites from Generate Capital, which is expected to close in January 2024, we expect to reach 50 exahashes in the next 18 to 24 months.”

In addition their new joint venture in Paraguay also continued to energize, reaching 0.3 exahashes with 2,110 miners now online and the company expect the total 1.1 exahashes to be online by early Q2 2024.

Bitcoin production grew, as Marathon mined 1,853 BTC in December, up 56% from November, and 290% year-over-year.

Thiel explained, “Significantly higher transaction fees helped December’s Bitcoin production grow much faster than average operational hash rate. For the month, MaraPool collected more than 380 BTC in transaction fees or 22% of BTC production, up from 12% of production last month. Our success in capturing the sizable transaction fees currently available to miners is directly related to owning and operating our own pool and represents a key competitive advantage of our vertically integrated tech stack.”

As of December 31, the Company holds a total of 15,174 unrestricted BTC. Marathon opted to sell 704 BTC or 38% of monthly production to cover operating expenses. The Company intends to sell a portion of its bitcoin holdings in future periods to support monthly operations, manage its treasury, and for general corporate purposes.

Marathon held $356.8 million in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet at month end, all of which was unrestricted. During December, the combined balance of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and bitcoin increased from $802.3 million to $998.5 million at December 31, 2023. In anticipation of the next Bitcoin network halving, the Company continues to build liquidity on the balance sheet to capitalize on strategic opportunities, including industry consolidation. The transaction to acquire two operating sites from Generate Capital is expected to close in January 2024 for approximately $178.6 million in cash to be paid from the Company’s balance sheet.

Marathon Digital and Zero Two inaugurate 200 MW bitcoin mining facility in UAE

Marathon Digital and Zero Two inaugurate 200 MW bitcoin mining facility in UAE

Zero Two, and Marathon Digital Holdings, Joint entity based out of ADGM Abu Dhabi for crypto mining has inaugurated  the state of the art 200 MW Bitcoin mining facility at Masdar Abu Dhabi. The announcement was made in a LinkedIn post by Pierre Sematies, Partner at Roland Berger and Global Head of Digital assets.

He stated, “Today Zero Two inaugurated a state-of-the-art 200MW Bitcoin Mining Facility with Marathon Digital Holdings at Masdar. The quality of the facility and the pace at which it was built and energized are very impressive.” He congratulated the teams of both Zero Two and Marathon Digital, as well as Roland Berger Digital asset team who were part of this journey in the early days.

Prior to this Marathon Digital Holdings had confirmed that the company along with Abu Dhabi based Zero Two (Registered name FS Innovation), an emerging blockchain and digital assets infrastructure development company, will be launching the two digital asset mining sites with a combined capacity of 250 Megawatts in the sustainability hub of Abu Dhabi Masdar City and the port zone of Mina Zayed by the end of 2023.

The joint entity registered in ADGM will work to accelerate the global digital economy while supporting the power grid of Abu Dhabi, JV) with the first large-scale immersion Bitcoin mining operations in the Middle East. To power the sites, Marathon and Zero Two intend to leverage excess energy in Abu Dhabi, increasing the base load and sustainability of the Abu Dhabi grid. Marathon and Zero Two will offset any non-sustainably produced electricity with clean energy certificates.

The equity ownership in the ADGM Entity will be 80% for Zero Two and 20% for Marathon.

This announcement comes as Oman moves strongly forward with its crypto mining projects.

UAE Zero Two purchases first largest single clean energy certificates to decarbonize its digital assets

UAE Zero Two purchases first largest single clean energy certificates to decarbonize its digital assets

UAE digital assets infrastructure company, Zero Two, part of sovereign wealth fund ADQ, has purchased 7.3 million megawatt hours of clean energy from EWEC (Emirates Water and Electricity Company), a leading company in the integrated coordination of planning, purchasing, and supply of water and electricity across the UAE. This is the largest single purchase of Clean Energy Certificates (CECs) to date and the first in the digital assets infrastructure sector.

The purchase agreement was signed by Ahmed Al Hameli, Chief Executive Officer of Zero Two; and Othman Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer of EWEC.

Under the purchase agreement, EWEC will provide Zero Two with clean energy certificates to decarbonize its operations and support the company’s progress against sustainability objectives.

Othman Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer of EWEC, said, “Our clean energy transaction with Zero Two provides EWEC with a unique opportunity to further accelerate the country’s energy transition and decarbonization of industries in line with the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative.”

He added, “This first-of-its-kind transaction in the digital assets infrastructure sector, which also constitutes the largest ever single CECs purchase to date, demonstrates both EWEC’s and Zero Two’s commitment to supporting the nation’s sustainability and environmental agenda and is an example of the practical and tangible steps UAE entities can take to decarbonize their operations and address the pressing challenge of climate change.”

Ahmed Al Hameli, CEO of Zero Two, said, “The purchase of EWEC’s Clean Energy Certificates demonstrates our dedication to sustainability and commitment to decarbonizing our digital assets infrastructure. Operating our assets with clean energy enables us to support Abu Dhabi’s transformation into a sustainable economic powerhouse while also contributing to the UAE’s long-term vision of a net zero future.”

Zero Two recently partnered with Marathon Digital to build two  bitcoin mining farms in the UAE. 

Abu Dhabi Masdar City and Mina Zayed Port locations for 250 Megawatt Bitcoin mining facility

Abu Dhabi Masdar City and Mina Zayed Port locations for 250 Megawatt Bitcoin mining facility

Marathon Digital Holdings in a recent press release has confirmed that the company along with Abu Dhabi based Zero Two (Registered name FS Innovation), an emerging blockchain and digital assets infrastructure development company, will be launching the two digital asset mining sites with a combined capacity of 250 Megawatts in the sustainability hub of Abu Dhabi Masdar City and the port zone of Mina Zayed by the end of 2023.

The joint entity registered in ADGM will work to accelerate the global digital economy while supporting the power grid of Abu Dhabi, JV) with the first large-scale immersion Bitcoin mining operations in the Middle East. To power the sites, Marathon and Zero Two intend to leverage excess energy in Abu Dhabi, increasing the base load and sustainability of the Abu Dhabi grid. Marathon and Zero Two will offset any non-sustainably produced electricity with clean energy certificates.

As per previous articles the equity ownership in the ADGM Entity will be 80% for Zero Two and 20% for Marathon.

To overcome desert climate environmental challenges, Marathon and Zero Two developed a custom-built immersion solution to cool the ASIC miners and implemented proprietary software to optimize their performance. The initial results of the pilot project, which include a significant reduction in the amount of maintenance required for the ASIC miners to effectively produce hash rate, indicate that operating immersion digital asset mining sites in Abu Dhabi is now feasible with the implementation of Marathon’s and Zero Two’s technological advancements.

The mining equipment and infrastructure required to build each site has already been ordered, and construction of both digital asset mining sites is currently underway. Once operational, these sites are expected to be among the most technologically advanced and energy-efficient digital asset mining operations globally. Based on the current construction schedules, both sites are expected to come online before the end of 2023, with a combined hash rate of approximately 7 EH/s.

“Our strategic alliance with Marathon marks a significant milestone for the blockchain and digital assets industry in Abu Dhabi,” said Ahmed Al Hameli, Chief Executive Officer of Zero Two. “This alliance leverages Zero Two’s regional expertise, expansive relationships, and growing blockchain infrastructure development and operational capabilities, with Marathon’s technical prowess in developing digital asset sites and innovative mining technologies. These synergies create a powerful combination and lay the groundwork for the success of this pioneering project in the Middle East. Marathon shares our commitment to actively supporting Abu Dhabi’s power grid and developing global digital assets infrastructure. We look forward to working with them on this venture.”

 

Fred Thiel, Marathon’s chairman and CEO, commented, “Our collaboration with Zero Two is a pivotal moment for Marathon and one that is consistent with our ethos of operating at the forefront of the technology curve and developing innovative technology solutions to advance the Bitcoin mining industry. 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. In Zero Two, we have found a valuable collaborator whose expertise in digital asset infrastructure development, and whose relationships in the region are an optimal complement to our team’s unique ability to build and implement innovative technologies. We look forward to working together to build the next-generation Bitcoin mining facilities in Abu Dhabi.”