Oman Investment Authority was a sovereign wealth fund that participated in the $350m Series C financing round of Crusoe Energie. Crusoe Energy is based in Denver and pioneered the use of cryptocurrency mining to cut gas flaring. Bloomberg reports.
Chase Lochmiller, Crusoe Energy CEO, stated that the company would open a Muscat office to capture flared gases and then use it for mining.
Gas flaring refers to the burning of excessive gas in connection with oil extraction. Environmental activists regularly criticize the practice, which is a major source for greenhouse gas emissions.
Crusoe Energy claims it can reduce flaring emissions by up to 80%, but it’s far from the darling climate activists because Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive process that heavily relies on fossil fuels.
U.Today reported in March that Crusoe Energy and ExxonMobil had joined forces to develop a pilot project to supply Bitcoin miners with flared gas.
Crusoe Energy has Canadian oil company Enerplus as well as Devon Energy, based in Oklahoma City.
It is expected that it will kickstart the first gas-for Bitcoin pilot project in Oman next spring.
Although Bitcoin’s price is down 31.29% year-to-date, Lochmiller claims that this big correction will not impact the company’s ambitious expansion plans.