Jack Dorsey-backed ocean mining company moves its headquarters to El Salvador
Ocean Mining, a Bitcoin mining pool backed by Block head Jack Dorsey, has established its global headquarters in El Salvador. The country’s pro-crypto policies are what attracted this crypto mining pool to relocate there. Crypto mining operations are known to be highly energy-intensive, which has led several countries to discourage and even ban these businesses. For Ocean, El Salvador has become the best choice for the location of its global headquarters — it became the first country in the world to legalize Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.
Ocean Mining moves headquarters to El Salvador
Ocean Mining, founded in Wyoming, closed a $6.2 million (approximately Rs 51 crore) funding round led by Dorsey in December 2023. In the coming months, Ocean plans to raise awareness about Bitcoin among Salvadoran citizens and offer them training programs.
“With places like Venezuela and the EU passing legislation to ban Bitcoin mining, El Salvador’s political stance was a stark contrast and a beacon of hope for the industry. To further our decentralization efforts, we needed a global presence, and El Salvador was the obvious choice,” Ocean Mining President Mark Artymko said in a prepared statement.
The company says it wants to bring decentralization to the crypto mining sector. In the broader picture, Ocean claims, it wants to help crypto miners gain control over their operations.
“For us, it’s about shifting the balance of power away from a handful of pools and bringing miners of all sizes closer to the core of Bitcoin. By bringing these features to market from our new global hub in El Salvador, we’re ensuring maximum reach and adoption in a safe regulatory environment,” said Ocean’s Global Head of Sales, a person known as ‘Bitcoin Mechanic’.
In addition to the pro-Bitcoin policy, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is also working on the creation of a “Bitcoin City” where activities and companies related to the cryptocurrency can collaborate and where volcanic energy can be used to carry out mining activities.
Last month, Dorsey-led payments company Block announced the development of its Bitcoin mining chip, which aims to decentralize the supply of Bitcoin mining hardware.
Block decided to design a complete Bitcoin mining system based on the feedback it received from the mining community. Dorsey wants to address challenges related to pre-sale discovery, procurement, mining hardware reliability, machine maintenance, and after-sale support.
At the global level, the market capitalization of the crypto mining sector is expected to grow to $5.55 billion (approximately Rs. 46,274 crore) by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 12 percent during the forecast period (2024-2031), according to a report by market research agency SkyQuest.
