The Sultanate of Oman has opened a new cryptocurrency mining facility, the country's second in the last ten months.

According to the Oman Daily Observer, a data hosting and cryptocurrency mining center has opened in the Salalah Free Zone, the country's special economic zone with low corporate taxes.

Exahertz, a local company, will administer the center in collaboration with Moonwalk Systems, a blockchain company based in Dubai.

The center is expected to cost 135 million Omani rials (about $350 million) to build and will use the latest Bitmain Technologies equipment, with plans to install 15,000 machines by October 2023.

According to the article, it is already operating in a pilot mode with 2,000 units online and 11 megawatts of consumed power.

The mining venture is part of a strategy to hasten the digitalization of Oman's economy, which is heavily reliant on oil exports. Another mining center, costing 150 million Omani rials ($389 million), launched in November of 2022.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-mining-oman-launches-370-million-crypto-mining-center-report

https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1141405/business/oman-attracts-370-million-investment-in-new-data-hosting-crypto-mining-centre