The Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol (SBP) has completed the inaugural auction of the SBP token, a new digital asset designed to verify clean energy use in Bitcoin mining—on Coinbase’s institutional platform, Project Diamond. The transaction took place within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) RegLab, the jurisdiction’s regulatory sandbox for fintech innovation.
This auction marks the debut of the first tokenised “energy transition asset” derived from Bitcoin. The SBP token is designed to link Bitcoin mining to verified clean energy consumption, creating a mechanism for institutional investors to hold Bitcoin while meeting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) mandates.
Bridging institutional finance and sustainable crypto
The transaction brought together a consortium of major institutional players. Participants included Zero Two, a digital infrastructure company backed by Further Ventures and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ; GSR, a prominent crypto trading firm and liquidity provider; and Firinne Capital, a digital asset investment manager.
The auction was conducted on Project Diamond, a platform developed by Coinbase Asset Management that leverages the Base layer-2 blockchain and USDC stablecoin to enable compliant capital market activity. Project Diamond holds a Financial Services Permission from the ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) to operate within the RegLab.
Brad Van Voorhees, CEO of SBP, described the auction as a “turning point” for institutional adoption. “To fully unlock institutional capital, Bitcoin requires robust market infrastructure that resolves the energy question,” Van Voorhees said. “SBP provides this solution by converting verified clean compute into a tradeable financial instrument.”
Abu Dhabi as a hub for ‘Green Capital’
The successful auction underscores Abu Dhabi’s broader strategy to position itself as a global leader in regulated digital assets and sustainable finance. The ADGM RegLab provides a controlled environment for fintechs to test innovative solutions under regulatory supervision, a key factor in enabling this transaction.
Shaun Martinak, head of tokenization at Coinbase, noted that the auction plays a “pivotal role” in accelerating the evolution of tokenised assets. “Coinbase Project Diamond platform was designed to deliver secure, compliant, capital market activity, helping to unlock institutional adoption of the global crypto economy,” Martinak said.
Peter Abou Hachem, head of growth and strategy at Hub71—Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem which backs SBP—added that the milestone reflects the emirate’s ambition to be a center for “digital assets that drive both financial and sustainable impact.”.
A new asset class for the energy transition
The SBP token functions by “tokenising” the clean energy used in Bitcoin mining. This effectively unbundles the clean energy attribute from the underlying Bitcoin, allowing miners to sell the “sustainability” premium separately to investors who want to green their portfolios without altering the fungibility of the Bitcoin network itself.
By creating a transparent, auditable framework for these assets, SBP aims to channel institutional capital into new clean energy generation and sustainable computing infrastructure.
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