Ethiopia to invest $250 million in Bitcoin mining as part of DCS deal

Ethiopia is investing $250 million to create Bitcoin mining infrastructure and train AI technologies. To this end, the government of the country signed an agreement with the Data Center Service company.

Financing will be provided by the state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings. The Data Center Service team, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong data center operator West Data Group, will take care of the technical side of the issue.

It is important to note that Ethiopian Investment Holdings' statement does not directly mention cryptocurrency mining. It talks about building advanced infrastructure “for data mining and artificial intelligence training operations” in Ethiopia.

However, Hashlabs Mining CEO Kal Kassa confirmed this information on the X social network (formerly Twitter). His company has been mining cryptocurrency in the country since 2022.

Earlier, information appeared in the media that 19 Chinese firms producing the first cryptocurrency moved to Ethiopia. The reason for the migration was low electricity tariffs and friendly relations between countries, experts say.

Journalists also claim that Bitcoin miners have their own lobbying associations in Ethiopia, supported by groups such as Project Mano and BitcoinBirr.

In addition, local authorities are collaborating with the Cardano blockchain as part of an agreement to overhaul the public education system.