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Taoping Inc. (NASDAQ: TAOP, the “Company” or “TAOP”), a provider of blockchain technology and smart cloud services, today announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary Taoping Digital Assets (Asia) Limited (“TDAA”) and a Kazakhstan company Aral Petroleum Capital LLP (“APC”) have signed a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) to establish a joint venture in Kazakhstan, of which TDAA and APC will own 51% and 49%, respectively. TDAA will control the board of directors of the joint venture.
APC is an oil and gas exploration and development company operating in Kazakhstan, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caspian Energy Inc. It holds an exclusive license which entitles it to explore and develop certain oil and gas properties known as the “North Block”, an area of 1,916 square km, and a production contract for the area known as “East Zhagabulak”. With a strong industry position and integration experience, APC is able to ensure high-quality utility-scale electricity supply at a low cost to the joint venture.
The joint venture plans to invest and build cryptocurrency mining sites with a total capacity of 100MW, the first stage construction of 30 MW is expected to complete within three to six months. TDAA will have the priority to deploy cryptocurrency mining machines owned by TDAA or its partners. The joint venture will carry out operation and maintenance of cryptocurrency mining machines in Kazakhstan. In addition, the joint venture plans to rent out excess operating capacity to third parties for additional income.
On April 15, 2021, the Company announced that it has signed a Bitcoin mining machine purchase agreement with Bitmain Technologies Limited for the purchase of Antminer S19j Pro Bitcoin mining machines with a total hash rate of 300,000 TH/s. TAOP plans to deliver these mining machines to Kazakhstan for deployment once the construction of the mining sites is completed.
“We continue to look for global opportunities that can bring business growth. With year-round cool temperatures, low real estate and labor costs, and relatively low energy prices, Kazakhstan is becoming a crypto mining hub that currently ranks 3rd in the world in terms of hash rate power,” said Mr. Jianghuai Lin, Chairman and CEO of TAOP, “We are working actively to capture current unique opportunity of the rapidly changing cryptocurrency mining environment to create value for shareholders.”
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