Canaan (CAN) has secured an additional order from Tether for custom Bitcoin mining hardware, expanding their collaboration beyond earlier research and development efforts testing new system designs for large-scale mining.
Under the new order, Canaan will supply high-density hash board modules designed for immersion-cooled systems that are planned for use at a tether-linked facility in South America, the crypto mining technology maker announced on Tuesday.
Canaan is supplying these systems to deepen its role as a custom hardware provider for large-scale operators like Tether. The agreement follows ACME’s 2025 R&D partnership with Swisstec, which has resulted in a proof-of-concept platform to improve efficiency and scalability in mining operations.
Tether, the largest stablecoin (USDT) issuer, is also developing its own control board and management software, signaling a move towards tighter integration between hardware and software within its mining operations.
The agreement includes an option for additional purchases, giving Tether the flexibility to expand its infrastructure if the new system design performs as expected. This is seen as a potential step towards more optimized, data center-style Bitcoin (BTC) mining.
Canaan Inc. is a Singapore-based technology company focused on ASIC microprocessors and Bitcoin mining hardware. It has 1,808 BTC on its balance sheet, worth approximately $137 million, the highest level of Bitcoin ever created.
Canaan’s Bitcoin holdings over time. Source: bitcointreasuries.net
Connected: Crypto miner Canaan sinks 7% despite strongest quarter in 3 years
Tether boosts mining as industry moves toward AI infrastructure
The announcement comes a day after Tether said it is expanding into its Bitcoin mining infrastructure by releasing an open-source framework that lets operators manage their mining hardware and software through a single system.
BTC miners are in the midst of a broader industry shift, with many established miners including HIVE Digital, Terawolf and MRA Holdings diversifying data centers and artificial intelligence workloads to ease the pressure on mining revenues.
Analysts at Bernstein recently cited a challenging operating environment for Bitcoin miners as saying that IREN may eventually end most of its mining business to focus on AI cloud infrastructure.
AI cloud services are expected to become IREN’s primary source of revenue in the coming years. Source: Bernstein
Canaan’s Nasdaq-traded shares were down about 1% in light afternoon trading Tuesday. The CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) was down about 5.7%. That industry-tracking exchange-traded fund’s holdings include CAN shares with a weighting of less than 0.6%.
Connected: Bitcoin mining difficulty has dropped, but is projected to increase in the next adjustment
