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Companies run by Tether’s secretive founder bought a crypto miner from an AI business owned by the stablecoin giant itself, highlighting how one of the world’s biggest crypto companies is managing its complex web of investments.
Tether is the majority owner of German AI data centre operator Northern Data, which announced in November that it had sold its bitcoin mining business, Peak Mining, for up to $200mn. The buyers were later named in a US regulatory filing as Highland Group Mining Inc, Appalachian Energy LLC and 2750418 Alberta ULC.
A British Virgin Islands filing shows that Highland Group’s directors are Giancarlo Devasini, Tether’s co-founder and chair, and Paolo Ardoino, the stablecoin firm’s chief executive. The sole director of the Alberta company is Devasini, according to a Canadian company document. It is unclear who runs Appalachian Energy, which is based in Delaware. The directors of these companies have not previously been reported.
The deal shows how Tether’s top executives are managing part of their sprawling multibillion-dollar business by selling assets to companies they also control.
The acquisition was announced days before conservative US social media platform Rumble, in which Tether has a near-50 per cent stake, agreed to buy Northern Data.
Tether, Devasini and Ardoino declined to comment.
Northern Data did not respond to a request for comment.
Shares in Northern Data were down nearly 13 per cent on Friday.
Tether, whose USDT coin has about $186bn in circulation, is a prolific venture capitalist and invests some of the billions of dollars earned from its stablecoin in areas such as artificial intelligence, agriculture and sports.
Tether, an affiliate of Northern Data’s CEO and another shareholder together hold 72 per cent of the German-listed company, which has a market capitalisation of around €885mn.
In September, Northern Data’s offices in Germany and Sweden were raided by European prosecutors investigating suspected tax fraud. Officials are investigating whether the company engaged in “large-scale VAT fraud” with damages from unpaid taxes estimated at more than €100mn.
At the time, Northern Data said it believed there had been a “misunderstanding of tax treatment of its GPU offering, which is solely dedicated for cloud computing, and the economic and legal structure of the company’s legacy cryptomining operations”.
“We believe we are in full compliance with international tax standards and have been co-operating with European authorities,” it added at the time.
Northern Data’s other top shareholder is Christian Angermayer, an investor known for backing the so-called steroid Olympics. Last year Angermayer moved from the UK to Lugano, a crypto-friendly Swiss city where Devasini and Ardoino also live.
Devasini, a former plastic surgeon and food delivery company owner, remains Tether’s most influential executive, while Ardoino is the company’s public face.
The sale of Peak Mining follows a previous attempt to sell it to another Devasini-run company.
Northern Data said in August it had agreed a nonbinding deal to sell the miner for $235mn to Elektron Energy, described as a “privately held bitcoin mining company”. The company’s director is Devasini, British Virgin Islands documents show.
Northern Data is listed on a regulated unofficial market in Germany that requires companies to disclose certain “ad hoc” information but not related-party transactions.
Tether has a 48 per cent stake in Rumble, which hosts President Donald Trump’s social media platform. In November, Rumble said it would buy Northern Data in a roughly $767mn deal.
Tether has also agreed a $100mn advertising deal with Rumble and a plan to buy $150mn worth of GPU services from it, once the acquisition of Northern Data is complete, moves that further underscore the complex financial ties between the companies.
Northern Data has a €610mn loan from Tether. Tether will receive half of the loan balance in Rumble stock as part of the acquisition, with the other half paid in the form of a new loan from Tether to Rumble, secured against Northern Data assets.
