Tether's mining expansion plan for bitcoin in Uruguay has ended. Reuter cited sources who claimed that, as a result of the disagreement with UTE, the Uruguayan State-owned electricity company, over the amount of the electricity supply, two mining sites in the country had been unable to obtain stable electricity for a long time, which eventually led to the suspension of the project, with a cumulative investment of approximately $120 million.
Two mines stopped because of the power gap.
These two mines, located in Florida, Uruguay, were originally an important starting point for Tether's deployment of bitcoin mining in South America. Tether was reported to have invested approximately $6 million in each mine through a local entity, the Microfin Operating Project.
At the heart of the dispute lies the difference in the contractual interpretation of the power supply. According to the source, the Tether side believed that the contract contained a minimum supply of electricity, which could be increased thereafter; UTE considered it to be the maximum supply allowed under the contract. As demand for electricity increased at the mine, disagreements between the two sides rapidly affected operations, with some of the mines running without electricity for days.
An internal UTE briefing seen by Reuters showed that the differences had arisen by November 2024. By March 2025, when the new Government of Uruguay came to power and UTE changed management, the attitude of the parties to renegotiate had hardened and the difficulty of dealing with the project had further increased.
No contract signed. UTE cut off the power.
According to reports, Microfin notified UTE in June 2025 of plans to terminate the parties ' contracts. On both sides, an attempt was made to retain the project, and the UTE Board of Directors approved a memorandum of understanding and revised contract text, but Tether representatives did not attend the scheduled signing arrangements.
On July 25, 2025, UTE cut off electricity from two mines in the absence of the new agreement and the billing. As previously reported, the non-payment of electricity at the two sites was approximately $5 million. UTE subsequently indicated to Reuters that Microfin had settled its arrears in December 2025.
Earlier, Tether had indicated to the Uruguayan labour department that he would cease his local business and reduce 30 of the 38 employees. It was also reported that prior to the termination of the project, the related investment had exceeded $100 million, with an additional planned transfer of approximately $50 million of infrastructure to UTE and the Uruguay National Interconnectivity System.
South America's premiere has collapsed, and mining investment continues.
The Uruguay project, which was first published in 2023, was considered to be Tether ' s first major Bitcoin mining project in South America and was also used as a testing platform before entering Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. At that time, Tether stressed that Uruguay had a high share of renewable energy and more stable grid conditions.
However, the exit from Uruguay has not changed the direction Tether continues to invest in mining. In July 2025, Tether signed a cooperation agreement with Adecoagro, a Latin American agribusiness, to mine bitcoin with renewable electricity in Brazil. Adecoagro had more than 230 MW of renewable power, hoping to digest excess power by digging.
In addition to the mine itself, Tether has been adding mining software and infrastructure in recent years. The company opened MiningOS in February 2026 and subsequently launched Mining Development Kit in April for the control and automated management of miners.
Additional information:According to Reuters, Tether used to invest more than $2 billion in energy production and the Bitcoin mining industry. According to company quarterly assurance data, Tether ' s net profit in the first quarter of 2026 was $104 billion, with total assets of $191.77 billion and liabilities of $183.54 billion, of which the United States Treasury debt stock was approximately $141.0 billion.