Tether Tightens Grip on Crypto: Mining Push, CeFi Control, and U.S. Entry Plans

Decentralization Drive, Global Growth, and CeFi Market Share Surge

Tether is ramping up efforts to decentralize Bitcoin mining by allocating both its current and future hashrate to OCEAN, a mining pool founded by Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr. The move, announced on April 14, 2025, comes as part of the company’s broader strategy to align with Bitcoin’s foundational principles and increase transparency in block creation. 

OCEAN leverages the open-source DATUM protocol, allowing miners to independently build block templates—a direct challenge to centralized mining structures. Tether plans to roll out the DATUM Gateway software across its mining operations globally, including installations in remote or infrastructure-poor areas such as underserved regions of Africa. The approach is designed to deliver consistent performance, even under conditions of unreliable connectivity.

Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, framed the initiative as a continuation of the firm’s long-standing commitment to financial freedom and network resilience. He emphasized that supporting decentralization is not just ideological, but essential to preserving Bitcoin’s integrity in the face of growing surveillance and control. Giv Zanganeh, Tether’s VP of Mining & Energy, said the decision to support OCEAN followed months of technical assessment, ultimately reflecting a strategic alignment with Bitcoin’s decentralized nature. 

Dashjr, who now serves as Chairman and CTO of OCEAN, said Tether’s participation affirms decentralization as a key priority in Bitcoin’s evolution. The announcement follows Tether’s recent collaboration with Quidax on a crypto literacy campaign targeting Nigeria and other African markets—an initiative aimed at fostering inclusion in the global digital economy.

While expanding its infrastructure footprint, Tether is also experiencing rapid user growth. The first quarter of 2025 saw a 13% increase in USDT users amid ongoing global macroeconomic instability, lifting the company’s total user count to approximately 400 million. 

Growth is being fueled by high demand in emerging markets like Argentina, Brazil, and Nigeria, where USDT functions as a digital dollar substitute in economies grappling with hyperinflation and underdeveloped banking systems. With a market cap now peaking at $144 billion, USDT continues to solidify its position as the dominant stablecoin across regions that rely on it as a stable store of value and a cross-border payment solution.

Tether is also preparing to enter the U.S. stablecoin arena by developing a new dollar-pegged token tailored for institutional use and compliant with anticipated American regulations. Unlike USDT, which is largely retail-facing and focused on emerging economies, the upcoming U.S.-based stablecoin is expected to target payment infrastructure and corporate finance. 

Addressing prior industry skepticism, Ardoino pushed back against critics who claimed Tether would avoid U.S. jurisdiction: “It has been said from our competition that we would never touch the US, and that we were afraid to come into the US…Now we want to play in the US, and we want to demonstrate that we can also be great and be the best in the US.”

Simultaneously, Tether has quietly risen to command 70% of the centralized finance lending market—a remarkable surge from the 20% share it held prior to the CeFi collapse in 2022. 

As traditional players exited the space in the wake of insolvencies and regulatory scrutiny, Tether stepped in to fill the void, solidifying its presence in yet another corner of the crypto financial system. The company’s expanded CeFi footprint is the latest signal of its ambition to operate at every critical junction of the digital asset ecosystem—from mining infrastructure and stablecoin issuance to lending and cross-border payments.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.