Oman introduces mandatory national pool for all licensed Bitcoin miners
Oman's sovereign approach to regulating cryptocurrency mining is reaching a new level. The Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology, together with Frontier Technologies, has officially launched a national mining pool. All licensed digital asset miners in the country are required to connect to this infrastructure.
The technological foundation of the pool is provided by Enegix Global, which supplied the platform and liquidity infrastructure. In the initial phase, it is planned to aggregate approximately 10 EH/s of computing power. This is comparable to the hashrate of a number of mid-sized mining companies on a global scale.
Since 2022, Oman has demonstrated rapid growth in the cryptocurrency mining sector. Total investments in mining and related data center infrastructure in the Salalah Free Zone have exceeded $700 million. The most notable project is a mining facility with a hydro-cooling system costing $370 million.
Analytical Commentary: This move by Oman is a classic example of state protectionism in the crypto industry. The creation of a national pool allows authorities not only to control the flows of mined cryptocurrency but also increases the transparency of the sector. Amid growing regulatory pressure on miners worldwide, this model could set a precedent for other countries in the Middle East and Africa seeking to monetize their energy resources through Bitcoin mining.