Tether abandons Bitcoin mining sites in Uruguay after power dispute

Tether has walked away from its Bitcoin mining operation in Uruguay, abandoning two facilities that cost an estimated $120 million after a prolonged tussle with state utility UTE over the power numbers available to the sites.

This move ends the USDT issuer’s initial move into South American mining.

Power dispute due to unclear contract clauses

According to two former Tether contractors and a source from state utility organization UTE cited by Reuters, the company’s local operator, Microfin, and the utility never agreed on how much electricity the mining sites were entitled to.

A former contractor also told Reuters that Tether saw a figure in its supply contract as a minimum it could subsequently scale. However, UTE claims this number was a hard maximum.

The gap did not really matter while the facilities were small, but it became a significant hurdle once the sites increased in size and productivity. There were stretches when the mines went days without enough power to run, the contractor said.

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