{"id":12342,"date":"2026-08-25T09:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342"},"modified":"2026-08-25T09:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:15:14","slug":"tethers-120-million-uruguay-mining-failure-now-shadows-its-next-bitcoin-bet-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342","title":{"rendered":"Tether\u2019s $120 million Uruguay mining failure now shadows its next Bitcoin bet in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-single-article-content=\"\">\n<p>Tether\u2019s abandoned Bitcoin mining venture in Uruguay, where a former contractor estimated spending reached about $120 million across two sites, is casting a shadow over the stablecoin issuer\u2019s smaller renewable-energy pilot in Brazil.<\/p>\n<p>The Uruguay project unraveled after Tether\u2019s local entity, Microfin, and state utility UTE disagreed over the terms governing electricity use, Reuters reported. Microfin understood its contracted allocation as a minimum that could be expanded, while UTE treated it as a maximum.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute was underway by late 2024. Microfin stopped paying power bills in May 2025, notified UTE the following month that it planned to terminate the contracts, and later failed to complete revised terms. UTE disconnected the sites on July 25.<\/p>\n<p>By November, Tether, the USDT issuer, had notified labor authorities that it would cease operations and lay off most staff. Microfin settled the outstanding UTE debt in December.<\/p>\n<p>A former contractor estimated Tether spent roughly $60 million at each of the two sites in Uruguay\u2019s Florida department. The approximately $120 million figure is an estimate of spending, not a confirmed loss disclosed by Tether.<\/p>\n<p>The collapse contrasts with Tether\u2019s 2023 launch of the venture, when the company cited Uruguay\u2019s renewable generation and grid reliability as advantages for Bitcoin mining.<\/p>\n<aside id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter\" data-inline-newsletter=\"\" data-newsletter-placement=\"article-midpoint\" data-newsletter-pending-label=\"Joining\u2026\" data-newsletter-pending-status=\"Joining the Daily Brief\u2026\" data-newsletter-email-required-message=\"Before sending, please provide your email address.\" aria-labelledby=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-title\" aria-describedby=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-copy\">\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__inner\">\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__content\"> <span class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__eyebrow\"> <i class=\"fa-regular fa-envelope\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> The Daily Brief <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-title\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__title\">The signal, before the noise.<\/h2>\n<p id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-copy\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__copy\">Start your day with the crypto stories moving markets, decoded by CryptoSlate\u2019s editors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__form-shell\">\n<p class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__form-heading\">One email. Everything that matters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-privacy\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__privacy\">Free to join. Unsubscribe any time.<\/p>\n<p> <i class=\"fa-regular fa-circle-xmark\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> <span>Whoops, looks like there was a problem. Please try again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <i class=\"fa-regular fa-circle-check\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> <span><strong>You\u2019re on the list.<\/strong> Your next Daily Brief is on its way.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The experience is directly relevant to Tether\u2019s next South American project, which is tied to Adecoagro, a leading producer of sustainable agricultural goods and energy in South America.<\/p>\n<p>Adecoagro representatives visited Tether\u2019s Uruguay mining facility in February 2025 while the agricultural producer and Tether explored using renewable power for cryptocurrency mining. Five months later, the companies announced a memorandum of understanding for a 230 MW pilot in Brazil.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, that project is materially smaller. Adecoagro said the pilot would use about 10 megawatts of surplus renewable energy that would otherwise be sold into the spot market.<\/p>\n<p>The more than 230 MW cited in the companies\u2019 announcement refers to Adecoagro\u2019s broader renewable generation capacity across South America, not power committed to Bitcoin mining.<\/p>\n<p>The disclosures do not show that Tether redesigned the Brazil project because of what happened in Uruguay, nor do they establish that the new venture faces similar problems.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-557643 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/exec-795ef3dd-98cb-42b0-b973-f2d396a29b94.png\" alt=\"Comparison of Tether\u2019s two abandoned Uruguay mining sites with its smaller 10 MW Adecoagro pilot in Brazil\" width=\"1122\" height=\"1402\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-557643 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/exec-795ef3dd-98cb-42b0-b973-f2d396a29b94.png\" alt=\"Comparison of Tether\u2019s two abandoned Uruguay mining sites with its smaller 10 MW Adecoagro pilot in Brazil\" width=\"1122\" height=\"1402\"\/><\/p>\n<p>However, they make Brazil the next test of Tether\u2019s regional mining strategy after Uruguay showed that renewable-energy availability alone does not guarantee a workable mining operation. Clear power terms, dependable capacity and sustainable economics proved just as important.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Featured,Mining,Stablecoins,Bitcoin,BTC,mining,stablecoins,TetherBitcoin,BTC,mining,stablecoins,Tether#Tethers #million #Uruguay #mining #failure #shadows #Bitcoin #bet #Brazil1787649314<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tether\u2019s abandoned Bitcoin mining venture in Uruguay, where a former contractor estimated spending reached about $120 million across two sites, is casting a shadow over the stablecoin issuer\u2019s smaller renewable-energy pilot in Brazil. The Uruguay project unraveled after Tether\u2019s local entity, Microfin, and state utility UTE disagreed over the terms governing electricity use, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[112,91,2776,285,1837,406,447,1245,282,218,2501,6489],"class_list":["post-12342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ethereum","tag-bet","tag-bitcoin","tag-brazil","tag-btc","tag-failure","tag-million","tag-mining","tag-shadows","tag-stablecoins","tag-tether","tag-tethers","tag-uruguay"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tether\u2019s $120 million Uruguay mining failure now shadows its next Bitcoin bet in Brazil - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After utility cutoff ended its Bitcoin mining project in Uruguay, Tether is moving ahead with a much smaller pilot in Brazil.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tether\u2019s $120 million Uruguay mining failure now shadows its next Bitcoin bet in Brazil\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After utility cutoff ended its Bitcoin mining project in Uruguay, Tether is moving ahead with a much smaller pilot in Brazil.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-25T09:15:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tether-mining-stress-test.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u884c\u653f\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u884c\u653f\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342\",\"name\":\"Tether\u2019s $120 million Uruguay mining failure now shadows its next Bitcoin bet in Brazil - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tether-mining-stress-test.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-25T09:15:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf\"},\"description\":\"After utility cutoff ended its Bitcoin mining project in Uruguay, Tether is moving ahead with a much smaller pilot in Brazil.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tether-mining-stress-test.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tether-mining-stress-test.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12342#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tether\u2019s $120 million Uruguay mining failure now shadows its next Bitcoin bet in Brazil\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/\",\"name\":\"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\",\"description\":\"Latest Crypto &amp; 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