Bitcoin mining company Phoenix Group adds 52 megawatts of mining capacity in Ethiopia

Bitcoin mining company Phoenix Group has announced the addition of 52 megawatts (MW) of mining capacity to its mining capacity in Ethiopia.

According to an announcement on April 29, the addition brings Phoenix’s Bitcoin mining capacity in Ethiopia to 132 MW, and the company’s total global capacity now exceeds 500 MW.

Phoenix co-founder and CEO Munaf Ali said the company’s strategy relies on “securing premium locations with abundant and low-cost energy.”

“Initiatives like our latest expansion in Ethiopia are key steps that not only create significant value today, but also solidify our market position,” he said.

Building on previous agreements

The news comes after Phoenix Group signed an agreement in January securing rights to 80 MW of power in Ethiopia. The announcement at the time noted that the new Bitcoin mine was scheduled to be operational in the second quarter of 2025.

The additional 52 MW mining facility will be developed in two phases, with the first phase using 20 MW to power 5,300 air-cooled mining machines with an expected hash rate of 1.2 Exahashes per second. The second phase, expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2025, will use the full 52 MW of water-cooling system and an expected hash rate of 2.4 Exahashes per second.

An Exahash is a unit of computing power that is primarily used to measure the speed of cryptocurrency mining networks, especially Bitcoin. An Exahash quantifies how many trillions of calculations a mining network can perform per second.

Reza Nedjatian, CEO of the company's mining, artificial intelligence and data center subsidiaries, stressed that the facility will be powered by renewable energy: "With 132 MW of clean hydropower running, we are proud to set a new benchmark for sustainable mining in Africa and provide large-scale operations in energy-rich regions."

Fast-growing company

Phoenix Group is listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange later in 2023 and becomes a publicly traded company. The company successfully completed its initial public offering (IPO) with an oversubscription of 33 times, reporting "strong demand" for its 907,323,529 shares.

After listing, Phoenix Group's shares quickly rose 50% after the $371 million IPO, opening at 2.25 dirhams (about $0.6) and soon reaching 1.50 dirhams (about $0.41). As of now, the stock is trading at around $7.94.

The company is known for its large-scale mining projects, acquiring $187 million worth of Bitcoin mining equipment in a transaction in early 2024.

Bitcoin mining is not the company's only business. In 2024, Tether, the largest stablecoin provider in the digital asset industry, announced plans to launch a new stablecoin pegged to the UAE dirham. Tether partnered with Phoenix Group and Green Acorn Investments for the project.