Tether's $120 Million Uruguay Mining Project Collapses Amid Electricity Dispute
Tether, the company behind nearly two-thirds of all stablecoins in circulation, had big plans for Uruguay. It said it would invest $120 million in building two bitcoin mining sites in the country, creating new energy infrastructure and jobs.
The project, aimed at using Uruguay as a testing ground before expanding to bigger markets like Brazil and Argentina, unraveled due to a dispute over electricity supply with state utility UTE.
Tether believed a clause in its contract represented a minimum level of power supply that could be increased, but UTE viewed it as a maximum allocation. The disagreement began by November 2024 and was compounded by a shift in Uruguay's political landscape, with the new left-leaning government taking a harder line on renegotiating the energy supply contract.
As demand at the mining plants rose, Tether was short of supply, leaving the site without sufficient electricity for days. The dispute led to unpaid bills, and UTE cut power to the mining sites in July 2025.