Tether's $120M Uruguay Mining Bet Unravels Over Electricity Dispute
Tether's ambitious plan to build two Bitcoin mining facilities in Uruguay has come crashing down after a dispute with state-owned utility Administración Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Eléctricas (UTE) over electricity costs. According to a Reuters investigation, Tether had invested around $120 million in the project, which was initially estimated to cost roughly $180 million.
The issue at hand is the interpretation of a clause in the power supply contract between Tether and UTE. Tether believed that the contract guaranteed a minimum baseline electricity allocation, which could be scaled up as the facilities expanded. However, UTE treated this number as a maximum allocation that couldn't be exceeded without a new agreement.
The dispute escalated after Uruguay's leftist government took office in March 2025 and installed new UTE leadership, taking a firmer stance on Tether's renegotiation requests. With unpaid power bills and a terminated contract, UTE cut off electricity to the sites on July 25, 2025.