Oman centralizes mining: all licensed companies are required to connect to the national pool
Oman is taking a decisive step toward state regulation of cryptocurrency mining. 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 the project.
At the initial stage, the pool will consolidate approximately 10 EH/s of computing power. This represents a significant share of the region's total hashrate, and this decision effectively creates a single point of control over mining activities in the sultanate.
Since 2022, total investments in mining and data centers in the Salalah Free Economic Zone have exceeded $700 million. The key project has been a $370 million hydro-cooled mining facility — one of the largest facilities of its kind in the Middle East.
Analysis and Prospects
The creation of a mandatory national pool is a precedent for the Gulf countries. On one hand, this measure increases operational transparency and allows the state to effectively control energy consumption. On the other hand, it deprives miners of the flexibility to choose a pool and may reduce their profitability due to a lack of competition among operators. In the long term, Oman risks deterring major international players accustomed to a decentralized mining model.
My expert opinion: Oman is choosing the path of "sovereign mining" — a strategy where the state acts not just as a regulator but as a direct participant in the process. This could become a new model for developing countries with cheap electricity, but success will depend on how transparent and market-driven the conditions remain for miners within the national pool.