Tether to Back OCEAN Pool with Current, Future Bitcoin Hashrate

Crypto stablecoin giant Tether will begin routing both its current and future Bitcoin mining hashrate to OCEAN, the decentralized mining pool launched by Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr.

The company announced the plan on Monday, signaling its intent to align mining operations with open-source infrastructure aimed at reducing reliance on centralized intermediaries. However, Tether has remained secretive about the scale of its mining capacity.

“As a company committed to financial freedom and open access, we see supporting decentralization in Bitcoin mining as essential to the network’s long-term integrity,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

OCEAN Pool, launched in late 2023, positions itself as an alternative to traditional mining pools by enabling miners to construct their own block templates via its DATUM protocol. This design is intended to improve censorship resistance on the Bitcoin network.

Currently, miners using mainstream mining pools are unable to submit their own block templates; pool operators handle transaction selection from the Bitcoin mempool. This setup has raised decentralization concerns, as pools could potentially censor certain transactions by leveraging their aggregated hashrate, especially when a dozen pools appeared to act as a proxy for Bitmain’s Antpool.

OCEAN has not been without controversy, though. Initially, it prohibited pool participants from processing non-financial transactions, such as Bitcoin Ordinals and Inscriptions. That policy was later rescinded.

Tether plans to roll out OCEAN’s DATUM Gateway software across its global mining sites, including those in remote or underserved regions such as parts of Africa. Despite this expansion, the company continues to withhold details about its total hashing power.

In addition to proprietary hashrate, Tether has also invested in publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies, including Northern Data and Bitdeer. Recently, Tether is involved in a lawsuit against Swan Bitcoin regarding a Bitcoin mining joint venture set-up.