Oman centralizes mining: all licensed companies are required to operate through a state pool
New rules for the cryptocurrency mining industry have come into effect in Oman. The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, together with Frontier Technologies, has launched a national mining pool that all licensed digital asset miners in the country are required to join.
Enegix Global provided the technological foundation and liquidity infrastructure for this project. Thus, the state effectively takes control of all legal mining activities within its jurisdiction, consolidating hashrate and financial flows.
Scale and Investments
In the first phase of the national pool's operation, it is planned to consolidate approximately 10 EH/s of computing power. This is a significant volume, making Oman a notable player in the regional mining market. Since 2022, total investments in mining and data center infrastructure in the Salalah Free Zone have exceeded $700 million. A key project has been a hydro-cooled mining facility worth $370 million.
From an analyst's perspective, Oman's decision is a logical step for Middle Eastern countries seeking to monetize cheap electricity and attract capital to the sector. However, the centralization of the pool carries risks: miners lose flexibility in choosing power allocation strategies, and the state gains a direct lever of influence over the Bitcoin network's hashrate in the region. In the long term, this could set a precedent for other jurisdictions considering similar regulatory models.