Tether Abandons $120M Uruguay Mining Project Amid Contract Dispute

Tether's ambitious $120 million Bitcoin mining project in Uruguay has hit a snag due to a contract dispute between the company and the country's state-owned power company, UTE.

The disagreement centered around the interpretation of electricity supply terms in the contract, with Tether viewing the agreed-upon volume as a minimum threshold that could be increased later, while UTE treated it as a hard ceiling. Efforts to revise the contract failed, and the project was effectively terminated when Tether representatives did not attend the signing meeting for the amended agreement.

The collapse of this project is a significant setback for Tether's expansion plans in Latin America, where it had signaled interest in building out energy-intensive Bitcoin mining infrastructure. The incident raises questions about the viability of partnerships with state-owned utilities and the challenges of negotiating with government entities.