Stablecoin Giant Tether Pours Half a Billion into Bitcoin Mining

The world’s largest stablecoin issuer now plans to be the global top Bitcoin miners.

Tether Holdings Ltd., the company behind the leading stablecoin Tether (USDT) is planning to invest about $500 million over the next six months in building new bitcoin-mining facilities, said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. 

The move came after Tether acquired shares of Northern Data AG, a Germany-based bitcoin mining firm in September this year. Tether also offered Northern Data a $610 million debt financing. Part of the debt facility will be used for the new investments in bitcoin mining.

New mining facilities will be located in Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador. These facilities will have capacities ranging from 40 to 70 megawatts. Tether aims to reach a total capacity of 120 megawatts by the end of 2023 and an impressive 450 megawatts by the end of 2025.

If successful, Tether’s mining operations would likely account for approximately 1% of the total hashrate of the Bitcoin network, and thus make Tether one of the world’s largest Bitcoin miners.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg.