[Tether Confirms Termination of Operations in Uruguay, Will Lay Off 30 Employees] Odaily Planet Daily News: Tether has confirmed notifying the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) in Uruguay that it will terminate its operations in the country and lay off 30 of its 38 employees. According to El Observador, this decision was confirmed after a meeting held this Tuesday at the headquarters of the National Labor Directorate (Dinatra). Tether had disclosed this decision in September, attributing it to Uruguay's high energy costs and the lack of a competitive tariff framework, which Tether believes is inconsistent with the scale of its investment in Uruguay. Tether had planned to invest $500 million in Uruguay, including the construction of three data processing centers in Florida and Tacuarembó, with an estimated demand of 165 MW, as well as a 300 MW wind and photovoltaic power park. Out of the total $500 million investment, Tether has already executed over $100 million, with an additional $50 million allocated for infrastructure, which will be transferred to UTE and the national interconnected system. Tether stated that under the current conditions, the continued advancement of its project is no longer economically viable. Although Tether had repeatedly applied for a more competitive tariff scheme since November 2023, Florida applied a 31.5 kV contract model and pricing standard, which increased operating costs. Tether had proposed changing the pricing standard to 150 kV and modifying the energy procurement contract, a solution that would have brought economic benefits to UTE and avoided unnecessary engineering work.