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Sources have revealed that digital currency mining company Bitdeer Technologies has purchased a high-security storage and exhibition facility in Singapore called Le Freeport for $28.4 million. Bitdeer’s chairman, Jihan Wu, confirmed the vault purchase via a text message following reports that revealed the mining company was buying Le Freeport.
After Bitmain Technologies co-founder Jihan Wu left the company, he founded a company called Matrixport, and he is also the chairman of Bitdeer Technologies. According to a report published by Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, Bitdeer paid S$40 million ($28.4 million) for the maximum security vault known as Le Freeport.
The vault was originally constructed to resemble the high-security storage vaults in Luxembourg and Geneva. Freeport has also been called “Singapore’s Fort Knox for art and collectibles.” Freeport was originally built for $100 million, and the latest acquisition by Bitdeer paid off a significant amount of debt owed to creditors such as DBS and the former owner of the vaults, Yves Bouvier.
The vault has been for sale since 2017, and the high-security warehouse has had a large number of well-known corporate customers. Before 2018, luxury auction house Christie’s once leased more than a third of Freeport’s storage space. Deutsche Bank once leveraged Freeport to house more than $8.9 billion in gold bullion.
Bloomberg’s Ranjeetha Pakiam, Chanyaporn Chanjaroen and Zheping Huang report that Bouvier and Freeport’s other shareholders “received about S$5 million from the sale.” However, the sources do not reveal what Bitdeer aims to do with the facility, but following the initial report, Jihan Wu confirmed the Freeport purchase with the Bloomberg writers via text.
Over the past year, Bitdeer has made a number of business moves such as investing $25 million in a facility based in Texas in May 2021. Five days later, Bitdeer announced cloud hosting, which allows “retail miners to generate revenue with 1 mining machine. “
In late June 2021, Bitdeer revealed the company’s Antbox products, and last October, the company introduced Filecoin mining services. The sources who disclosed the latest acquisition of Freeport in Singapore also described that Bitdeer is exploring going public through a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) deal via a blank check company.
Bitdeer is not the only crypto firm to purchase a high security vault or bunker system. Xapo’s bunker in the Swiss mountains is equally extravagant and reportedly millionaires have stored their bitcoins there. Last week, reports indicated that bitcoin miner Arsenal Digital Holdings (OTCMKTS: ADHI ) purchased an underground data center outside of Houston. Some suspect it is Westland Oil’s infamous two-story underground tailings pile on campus.
What do you think about Bitdeer buying ‘Singapore’s Fort Knox’ otherwise known as Le Freeport? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
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