Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, is reshaping its approach to Bitcoin mining. On April 28, 2026, it announced a new modular compute infrastructure designed to give operators more control over energy use, costs, and performance. Instead of buying standard off-the-shelf mining rigs, Tether is now working with Canaan Inc. and ACME Swisstech to build systems from scratch. They are using application-specific hash board modules from Canaan and integrating them into their own control systems, cooling setups, and software.
The idea is pretty straightforward. Most large mining farms today run thousands of fixed, monolithic machines. These units don’t communicate well with each other, and they are not optimized for the specific conditions of an industrial site. If something breaks or needs an upgrade, you often have to replace the whole machine. That is expensive and wasteful.
Separating Compute from Power and Enclosure
Tether’s system is different. It separates the computing power from the power supply and the enclosure. Each part can be improved or swapped out independently. This becomes especially useful when combined with immersion cooling, where the hardware is submerged in a special liquid. That method reduces energy waste and improves overall efficiency. The operators can adjust output in real time and replace individual hash boards without tossing out the entire unit.
Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, said in a statement that most mining infrastructure is still sealed and fixed, which makes scaling expensive and operation inefficient. He described Tether’s approach as a way to “directly control cost, efficiency, and how these systems perform at scale.” The company is essentially rethinking how mining hardware is designed and deployed.
Partners Weigh In
ACME Swisstech’s president, Giv Zanganeh, emphasized that this is not just another plug-and-play retail product. It is a “holistic, industrial co-design approach aimed at large-scale operations.” Meanwhile, Canaan’s CEO, Nangeng Zhang, noted growing demand for modular hardware that can be tailored to customer needs. Canaan’s Avalon hash board modules allow partners to optimize system architecture at the component level, he said, and this reflects a broader industry trend toward customization.
Building on Earlier Work
This deployment builds on Tether’s earlier research and development. The company has already released an open-source Mining OS and a Mining SDK, tools that give operators more direct control over hardware and energy usage. Now it is extending that philosophy into the hardware itself. Instead of relying on fixed, preassembled rigs, Tether wants to build systems around core compute components.
The project is part of Tether’s larger effort to design and control the infrastructure it depends on, alongside its work in digital asset issuance. It is a step toward more flexible, efficient, and scalable mining operations. Whether this approach catches on across the industry remains to be seen, but it is a notable departure from how things are done today.
