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

November 27th. As per Elobservador, Tether Holdings Ltd. has informed the Uruguayan Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) that it will discontinue its operations in Uruguay and lay off 30 out of the 38 employees. Since commencing operations in Uruguay, Tether had intended to invest $500 million, which involved the construction of three data centers in the provinces of Florida and Tacuarembó, with an anticipated power consumption of 165 megawatts. Additionally, it planned to establish a wind and solar power generation park with a rated capacity of 300 megawatts. Among the total investment, more than $100 million has already been carried out, and an additional $50 million was earmarked for infrastructure that would be owned by the Uruguayan state power company (UTE) and the national interconnected system. The company cautioned that under the present circumstances, continuing the project is economically unviable. The 31.5-kilovolt power transmission contract model adopted in the province of Florida has led to increased operating costs, despite Tether's multiple applications for a more competitive electricity price scheme commencing from November 2023. In the proposed alternative, the company proposed switching to a 150-kilovolt transmission cost and amending the power purchase contract. This approach could have brought economic advantages to the Uruguayan power company and averted unnecessary engineering work.