Bitcoin Forum

Of lately news has it that Oman the well known Oil rich city  sets aside  a mapped town for Crypto mining for which I strongly believe Bitcoin is not excluded. According to the source, this is the second mining facility set up by the Oman government which costs a whopping sum of $350m and that has so far steered up positive reactions towards the country.

Looking at this, I see economic diversification if not why would an oil rich city want to go into Crypto mining. They have seen the future of the new world economy and are beginning to set up something in anticipation so as not to be taken unawares.  With this policy which they have done, I  see giant Crypto mining organisation heading to Oman in the nearest future. This has put the nation in the list of Crypto friendly nations in the world and as such would be generating huge revenue from crypto mining projects and other crypto organisation's that want to establish there as a result of their friendly Crypto policies.

If Oman a nation with huge Oil deposit could do such how much more about nations with no natural resources. They have seen the future and are strategically positioning themselves to get the wind towards their direction.

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

This might just be a good catch for other Oil rich nations to follow up.

Do they also welcome private mining farming companies, or are they limited to mining in collaboration with the government by a profit-sharing system, or also all interested companies/individuals have to use the mining infrastructure provided by the government?

The answer is that they have more resources than other non-petroleum producing countries.

I am sure Oman is taking advantage of its main resources which is oil inorder to be a part of the still-lucrative crypto mining industry. And I heard that there is now a way to use waste output in the making of oil so as to turn something already considered to be useless into profits. Now, the question is: Will this big investment be making a difference? Well, maybe for Oman but as to the cryptocurrency industry that remains to be seen. However, there is no denying that this is an exciting news and I am sure there can be some countries also thinking of the same.

Oman has a warm desert climate and along the coast you will experience great humidity in summer. Temperatures during summer may exceed 50 degrees Celsius, so keeping those miners running.... will be costing them a fortune.

Yes, night temperatures might be a lot cooler, but miners have to run 24/7 to be profitable. I see a lot of these Oil rich nations are diversifying into other projects that are not linked to oil.... possibly a backup option when the oil runs out.  ::)

What "giant crypto mining organization" are you talking about?
I have always been skeptical about the big cryptocurrency miners. Crypto mining should be spread across multiple small miners(even though I know that this is impossible for Bitcoin).
I don't think that this crypto mining facility would make any difference in the crypto mining world. I don't know how all this mining hardware will be cooled down. Oman is a hot country. Perhaps they will have to use air conditioners in order to cool down the mining equipment, which wastes energy, but I guess that they will be using free energy from oil and gas production in order to produce electricity for the crypto mining.

According to a few articles, the new crypto mining facility in Salalah Free Zone is a state-of-the-art project that uses advanced hardware from Bitmain and hydro technology for cooling. It has a capacity of 11 MW and plans to expand to 15,000 machines by October 23.

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/omans-mtcit-unveils-massive-350-million-bitcoin-mining-facility-in-salalah-free-zone/
https://cryptonews.com/news/oman-flags-off-new-crypto-mining-facility-with-expansion-plans-as-country-bets-blockchain.htm

The facility is open to private mining farming companies, as well as individuals who want to use the mining infrastructure provided by the government. There is no profit-sharing system involved, but rather a fee-based model that depends on the power consumption and the duration of the contract.

I think this is great news for Oman, the region, and the whole crypto space.

Such huge mining center will definitely make an impact as they are planning to implement 15,000 machines to mine BTC which will definitely increase the demand of the hardware but I can assume you are not talking about hardware or other stuff but asking about what difference it could make on BTC. And some basic factors came to my mind are:

1. It will increase the hash power as there will be more competition and the hash power adjust itself after 2 weeks so things might get tricky and not well for miners only.
2. And who knows what mindset these mining centers have like if they only mine and keep the reward limited to themselves amid of putting them in the market then the price of BTC will boost up. Otherwise opposite will happen.
3. Transaction speed and security will be increased as more nodes will add into network.

While I welcome any nation running their own crypto farms, because it keeps the network safe and more decentralized, I would prefer if those enterprises were carried out using green and renewable energy, instead gas or oil. For obvious reasons.

I agree on your point of temperature, while it is not impossible to run those farms in Oman, miners who live in the extremes of the world (Chile, Argentina, USA, Russia, Canada, Greenland...) Certainly see more profitability, since they do not need to spend extra money in super efficient artificial convection machines, fans or coolers.

If you're into business, always have a plan B as backup which will serve you an alternative should incase of anything strange happening beyond expectations, they may be rich in oil and having a mining rig is not also a bad idea for their establishment, but we need to be focused here about the particular crypto mining involved, is it a bitcoin mining rig or for other cryptocurrencies, since they have realized the future that comes with cryptocurrency irrespective of the engagements involved, there's a lot of opportunities in it, they must have explore the chances of doing that before embacking on any, these wlare countries we least expect to have cryptocurrency in mind not to begin with adopting other relevant activities that comes with it, who knows maybe the next country to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender will be from the middle east.

It will be better for mining industry as it increases decentralization in mining.

I did not know Oman has considerable hashrates in Bitcoin mining so if with this plan, they join the mining party, that is good for Bitcoin network to make it more decentralization which is fundamental for a healthy Proof of Work network.

Bitcoin Mining Map (https://ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci/mining_map) from Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index does not show Oman.

It’s an interesting site you’ve provided and I must say thanks yo that, given all the statistics it’s got set up although, the Greenhouse Gases Emission status wasn’t clickable on my end so, I wasn’t able to verify on what is or what could be on that.

Still, the possible reason as to why the states might not have been recorded is possibly due to the fact that, the project isn’t fully launched or functional yet. The OP states that, it’s got a mapped town for the purpose of mining.

One thing I know for sure is the exposure that would come to this part of the world and not just them but, the globe at large as the campaign for more acceptance and creating a space where bitcoin would be used along with everyday fiat currency for a more stable society would be the case.

Even the more better for Oman, the project is coming just before the halving and would meet a bullrun to spike the economy of its people.

Haha, I highly doubt that they are going to have Bitcoin Mining as the alternative to oil mining if it runs out. I am pretty sure they have amazing location that gives them high supply of oil and thus they are really safe for the generations to come. You never know how the oil wells could get linked with each other from the ground when one empties the other might just get forced into the channels. Anyways, with the time oil is gonna get costly so even if the supply start depleting it's gonna call for the high price tag and they will maintain their repo for very long.

I highly doubt country which is that rich will have to mine Bitcoin to keep up with the current status quo. They can have gold, tourism, invest more money on lavish hotels and high risers to make it wonder zone of the world and attract all the dollars to their country.

Also, valid point in terms of temperature.

Since it's the second mining centre launched in Oman, and the question is about its impact, I think we gotta ask whether the first one made a difference. I personally must have missed the news about the first one, and that one cost even more to open, according to the article. I tried looking for more info about Bitcoin mining in Oman but failed to find anything useful.
It's good that Oman is looking at other industries, but so far, these are just a couple of experiments to me, not a major policy change and not something that will affect mining globally.

It takes a country with smart leaders to reason this way, many have the resources but they are too stupid to get something going for the future of their country, Oman is in the good hands that's why they are taking this step, it might not make much difference for Bitcoin in general but I do hope it wake up the sleeping countries that can benefit from the same step that Oman is taking.

I am not sure that waste can be turned into Oil but I do wish the Oman Bitcoin mining project a success, this is a big opportunity waiting for smart people to grab, like a country in Africa that makes money from feeding another country it's electricity and it's own people lives in darkness most times, imagine if they stop feeding another country electricity and use that to start mining Bitcoin.

I get your point sir. I am actually looking at the economic aspect of it and the fact that Oman an oil rich city could really have look into Crypto mining business without even thinking about their status at the stance. It shows how smart they are and are swimming in the same direction with the trend of development and innovations. It takes a good, reasonable and listening leader and government to take such step. I believe with this they have done,  it would project Oman in a better position as a Crypto friendly nations and this would likely attract mm more mining organisation there and in possibly Oman would start experiencing traffic flow into their nation and you know what that means to a nations economy.

You know that every country's government doesn't reason alike, and despite the fact that Oman is taking this bold step in crypto, other countries have the best reason known to them why they are not taking those steps towards crypto. I can say that some people fear that if they fully allow crypto in their country, there will be more money crimes that can easily escape without being caught due to the decentralisation of Bitcoin, while others are also afraid of price volatility, so they believe they are trying to protect investors. Whatever the reason, some people have not just realised the significance of Bitcoin, and if they do, you will still find enough reasons why they must encourage the free and fair adoption of Bitcoin.

Every oil rich countries know that oil is a depleting asset and in the next couple of decades, their reserve is going to be depleted. So they are trying to get into new businesses which will support them for those unforeseen times. It's good that Oman has chosen crypto as a survival strategy. But if they are not inviting private players and setting up a government funded mining city, that will not be good for cryptocurrency. It will eventually give them the power to manipulate the market as per their own will.

I am never very positive about governments or big corporates getting into crypto market because the decentralised architecture could be at risk.

Big if true.

$350 million is definitely not peanuts. You can establish a very big mining farm with an investment like that. Still though, I am not sure if these news are for real. When did Oman become so interested in the crypto business anyway? Tbh, this is the first tome I hear Oman and crypto in the same sentence. Come to think of it, I don’t know anything about Oman at all… Where was this country located again? In Africa or somewhere near Saudi Arabia? Anyway, If Oman wants to join the party, then they are free to do so. I hope they get their lambo quickly.

They'll be using bitmain hydro cooling bitcoin miner on the farm. With liquid the system will stay cool at all time, no extra difficulty or charges would arise.

Not only a back up project, but a way to initiate her citizens into bitcoin technology, which will help the individual economy of their youths in future, thereby increasing the country's economy. They'll be hiring locals to work there, an excellent decision, citizens who work there will practically study bitcoin, how it works etc, in few years the information will circulate amongst other citizens in the country, increasing the use of blockchain technology in Oman. They believe, it's the future and indeed it is.

Contrarily to that, profits from mining in Asia countries is quite recommended due to low electricity costs, but mining difficulty keeps increasing; surged at around 6.17% at block height 804,384 and nobody can predict how difficult it would get in future. The only difference that I can point out why the Oman Government invest so much into bitcoin mining is what I said above, enlightening her citizen on the importance and future benefits of blockchain technology.

I'm uncertain about the news's accuracy, but if it's valid, the Bitcoin community might find relief from concerns about crypto mining bans from other nations. With Oman's ample oil energy, they could burn oil to generate Bitcoin, a prudent choice that could significantly influence Bitcoin's prospects. This is particularly noteworthy since numerous countries curtail Bitcoin mining due to energy usage concerns.

The launch of a $350M crypto mining center is sure to make an impact in terms of securing the Bitcoin Network.  However, I do not think that it will have an immediate impact on the Bitcoin market since the fund is not injected directly into the Bitcoin market instead it was injected into the company that sells Bitcoin mining materials.

Any means of adding security to the Bitcoin Network through additional hash power can always make a difference because it will help in the decentralization of hashes preventing a possible 51% attack.

If not for any major reasons to celebrate this at least this is a good point you raised that is of very good Importance to the Crypto community. Although the funds weren't pumped to add liquidity but the reasons for which it was used was of great value because more protection edge has been added to making the industry more decentralised and you know it makes the hash power more secure and protected just as you have said.

You don't need a Bitcoin-led new world order to start mining today, because mining is quite profitable when you have cheap electricity. And having a mining operation today won't give you a lot of edge in the future, because mining equipment becomes obsolete with time when more efficient miners get released. So I doubt that they bet on a Bitcoin revolution, they are just making a rational decision today.

All these Arab countries mostly UAE(Dubai) and Saudi Arabia want to invest their money in the future. They literally spent millions to increase tourism, 0% tax, provide lavish lifestyle and stuff as they know soon they will be over with making money from the Oil wells. So they better find something which will keep the constant earning. I mean they are taking a great bet as compared to many other countries which are still waiting for legal regulations and stuff.

I think that they might be able to offset the cooling system during the day since the temperature drop during the night would be a factor to their cooling system, I think it's stupid of them to not utilize or integrate that into their system. And if we're talking about electricity, I think they have a pretty low expense on that especially as an oil rich country. And also, oil won't run out anytime soon, that's a bullshit created by the scientists that Rockefeller hired to create the illusion that oil is a precious resources and that it's limited so he can have a higher asking price for it.

All the Arab Gulf countries know that they won't be able to survive only thanks to oil, thanks the reason why countries like the UAE spent a lot of money to improve cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi; Qatar also is trying to get a lot of tourism as well, they even hosted the last World Cup; then we have Saudi Arabia that is trying to become more open and welcoming for foreigners. All that to say that I'm not surprised by Oman's decision, it's a smart move.

One day the world might have a lot less of a need for oil, but that time is nowhere near close. Crude oil frackers should most definitely have an interest in securing their wealth and non renewable income sources for generations to come so why not diversify and put another crypto mining operation in the middle of the desert in tbe middle east? 

A country's positive attitude towards bitcoin and bitcoin mining will show new dimension in the crypto space. Bitcoin mining will be easier for them as they are rich in producing oil. In the meantime, the Muslim countries have changed their thoughts and consciousness, they are now taking similar steps to do those things keeping in mind the potentiality of bitcoin. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has also taken a positive view of Bitcoin. The country's government wants the UAE to be known as a crypto hub in the future. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar all want to get involved with Bitcoin, as like Oman. In the future, crypto could be a major weapon in the financial war.

The main reason will be to reduce the dependence they have on their oil. They are smart to know that it is not good to just depend on oil especially when it is the only raw material that you have in abundance. The decision makers in the country must have tasked people to seek new things that they can diversify into that will have profits for the future even if their oil fails, and cryptocurrency is what they have thought about. They must have a young team of thinking individuals who really understand cryptocurrency and know it for the benefits it has.

Any challenges that will face in the future, they will be prepared to find solutions.

What difference are you specifically referring to? If you're referring to the price, not really. But if you are referring to adoption, this is a big contribution.

This means that cryptocurrency having a bright future ahead is most likely true. No less than a country investing hundreds of millions of dollars, that's something. There must have been serious studies made before this huge project began and they must have found out the potential of cryptocurrency.

This is a forward-thinking nation with leaders that have good foresight. They are moving into a digital economy in the coming years their dependence on exportation of oil would have reduced they will begin to export digital products. This is not surprising because most of these Arab countries are already ahead of the rest of the world in regard to crypto. Look at Dubai it is almost like the crypto hub of the world. And Oman wants to be a part of it too.

Oman will experience a boom in businesses going into crypto mining and the next thing the government will do is that they are going to look for way to regulate it.