Marathon Digital, Zero Two Unveil Middle East’s Immersion Bitcoin Mining

Marathon Digital (MARA), a leading Bitcoin miner, has announced a strategic joint venture with Zero Two, supported by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, to establish the Middle East’s premier large-scale immersion Bitcoin mining operation. This collaboration comes as the U.S. White House campaigns for a proposed tax, urging domestic crypto miners to pay an amount equal to 30% of their energy expenses.

The newly-formed venture, dubbed Abu Dhabi Global Markets JV Entity (ADGM), plans to initially develop two mining sites with a combined capacity of 250 megawatts (MW) of mining power, as revealed in a recent press release. The sites will utilize surplus energy in Abu Dhabi, thereby enhancing the capital’s power grid’s base load and sustainability. The press release also mentioned that the essential mining equipment and infrastructure for each site have been procured, and construction is currently in progress.

The ownership structure of ADGM will comprise an 80% stake for Zero Two and a 20% stake for Marathon, with the initial capital investment of roughly $406 million divided between the partners in proportion to their ownership shares.

Typically, digital asset miners employ air cooling technology to regulate the temperature of their mining computers. However, in environments with high heat and humidity, liquid immersion cooling offers significant benefits for miners operating with slim profit margins. Due to Abu Dhabi’s desert climate, air-cooled digital asset mining is impractical. A pilot program for immersion cooling, launched jointly by Marathon and Zero Two, demonstrated a substantial decrease in the maintenance required for ASIC miners to maintain an effective hash rate.

Marathon CEO Fred Thiel expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “Our collaboration with Zero Two is a pivotal moment for Marathon. We look forward to working together to build the next-generation Bitcoin mining facilities in Abu Dhabi.”