Tether owner Northern Data sells minor arm to Tether executive

    Crypto AI Updates04 mins


    Northern Data, a data center operator backed by Tether, has reportedly sold its Bitcoin mining business, Peak Mining, to three companies run by Tether executives.

    Northern Data was sold for up to $200 million to Highland Group Mining, Appalachian Energy and an Alberta-based company run by Tether co-founder and chairman Giancarlo Devasini and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

    The report identified Mr. Devasini and Mr. Ardoino as directors of Highland Group, and Mr. Devasini as the sole director of the Alberta company, but it remains unclear who runs Delaware-based Appalachian Energy.

    Northern Data originally announced the sale of Peak Mining in November, but did not reveal the buyer because it was not required by German regulators.

    The deal also comes just before video-sharing platform Rumble, in which Tether owns a nearly 50% stake, agreed to acquire Northern Data.

    Tether’s financial relationships are complex. sauce: financial times newspaper

    A complex web of economic connections

    This is also the second attempt to sell Peak Mining to a company owned by Devasini. The first deal, announced in August, was for $235 million with Electron Energy, but fell through in the wake of whistleblowing.

    Northern Data is facing an investigation by European prosecutors on suspicion of tax evasion, and its offices were raided in September.

    Related: Tether deepens its bet on AI, backing Italian company’s humanoid robots

    Tether has also agreed to a $100 million advertising deal with Rumble and will purchase $150 million worth of GPU services from Rumble to dig deeper into Bitcoin mining.

    Northern Data currently has a €610 million ($715 million) loan from Tether.

    As part of the acquisition, the stablecoin issuer will receive half of the loan balance in Rumble shares, with the remainder paid in the form of a new loan from Tether to Rumble secured by Northern Data assets, FT reported.

    Tether derived from a stablecoin

    Tether remains the world’s dominant player in the stablecoin space, with a 60% market share and a circulating supply of $187 billion USDT.