Key Takeaways
- Tether will direct its mining power to the OCEAN pool run by Luke Dashjr.
- Dashjr filters out Bitcoin inscriptions, sparking community criticism.
- Tether has invested $500 million into mining and holds $7.8B in BTC.
Tether is directing its current and future Bitcoin mining power to OCEAN, a decentralized pool launched by longtime and controversial Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr.
The announcement, made on April 14, marks another major step in Tether’s $500 million expansion into Bitcoin mining.
Global mining expansion plans
The company behind USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin with $144 billion in circulation, plans to integrate OCEAN’s DATUM Gateway protocol across its mining sites, including operations in rural and underserved regions.
The firm wrote:
Tether will roll out OCEAN’s DATUM Gateway across its mining operations worldwide, including in rural and underserved areas such as parts of Africa.
OCEAN’s technical innovation
OCEAN, launched in November 2023, is a non-custodial mining pool that allows on-site generation of unique block templates, enhancing decentralization and minimizing latency.
Dashjr developed DATUM to improve performance in geographically dispersed mining setups.
Controversy & community response
However, OCEAN has attracted controversy due to Dashjr’s efforts to exclude certain types of Bitcoin transactions — particularly inscriptions, a method used to embed NFT-like data into the blockchain.
His stance has stirred criticism from some within the Bitcoin community.
Tether’s growing Bitcoin holdings
Tether’s mining investments include sites in El Salvador, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Earlier this year, the firm purchased 8,888 BTC, bringing its holdings to approximately $7.8 billion — making it one of the largest known Bitcoin holders.
In 2024, Tether earned $13 billion in profits from its reserves, largely held in cash and equivalents.
