Tether has confirmed to the Uruguayan Ministry of Labor that it will cease its operations in the country

BlockBeats News, November 27th, according to Elobservador, Tether Holdings Ltd. has confirmed to the Uruguayan Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) that it will cease its operations in Uruguay and lay off 30 of the 38 employees. Since entering Uruguay, Tether had planned to invest $500 million, including the construction of three data centers in the provinces of Florida and Tacuarembó, with an expected power consumption of 165 megawatts; it also planned to build a wind and solar power generation park with an installed capacity of 300 megawatts. Of the total investment, over $100 million has already been implemented, with an additional $50 million allocated for infrastructure that will be owned by the Uruguayan state power company (UTE) and the national interconnected system.

The company warned that under current conditions, continuing the project is economically unfeasible. The 31.5-kilovolt power transmission contract model used in the province of Florida has raised operating costs, even though Tether has applied multiple times for a more competitive electricity price scheme starting from November 2023. In the proposed alternative, the company suggested switching to a 150-kilovolt transmission cost and modifying the power purchase contract, a strategy that could have brought economic benefits to the Uruguayan power company and avoided unnecessary engineering work.