Canaan Lands New Tether Order as Mining Shifts to Modular Infrastructure

Canaan (CAN) has secured an additional order from Tether for custom Bitcoin mining hardware, extending their collaboration beyond an earlier research and development effort that tested new system designs for large-scale mining.

Under the new order, Canaan will supply high-density hash board modules designed for immersion-cooled systems, with usage planned at a Tether-linked facility in South America, the crypto mining tech maker announced on Tuesday. 

Canaan is supplying these systems to deepen its role as a custom hardware provider for large-scale operators such as Tether. The agreement follows a 2025 R&D partnership with ACME Swisstech, which resulted in a proof-of-concept platform to improve efficiency and scalability in mining operations.

Tether, the issuer of the biggest stablecoin (USDT), is also developing its own control boards and management software, signaling a move toward tighter integration between hardware and software within its mining operations.

The agreement includes an option for additional purchases, giving Tether flexibility to scale its infrastructure if the new system design performs as expected. This is seen as a potential step toward more customized, data center–style Bitcoin (BTC) mining.

Canaan Inc. is a Singapore-based technology company focused on ASIC microprocessors and Bitcoin mining hardware. It holds 1,808 BTC on its balance sheet, valued at roughly $137 million, its highest level of retained Bitcoin to date.

Canaan’s Bitcoin holdings over time. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NET

Related: Crypto miner Canaan sinks 7% despite strongest quarter in 3 years

Tether expands mining push as industry pivots toward AI infrastructure

The announcement came a day after Tether said it was expanding into 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 broad industry shift that’s seen several established miners, including HIVE Digital, TeraWulf and MARA Holdings, diversifying into data centers and artificial intelligence workloads to offset pressure on mining revenues.

Analysts at Bernstein recently said IREN could eventually phase out much of its mining business to focus on AI cloud infrastructure, citing a challenging operating environment for Bitcoin miners.

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% mid-day on Tuesday in light trading. CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) was down about 5.7%. That industry-tracking exchange-traded fund’s holdings include CAN shares, at less than 0.6% weight.

Related: Bitcoin mining difficulty falls, but is projected to rise in next adjustment

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