Tether has secured commitments from 15 Bitcoin mining companies, hardware manufacturers and mining pools to support its open-source Mining Development Kit (MDK), as the stablecoin issuer expands its work on AI-powered mining automation.
Summary
- Tether says 15 Bitcoin mining companies and industry groups have committed to supporting its open-source MDK.
- Bitmain, Bitdeer, Canaan, MicroBT, Foundry Digital and F2Pool are among the participants.
- Each participant is expected to develop an integration connecting its mining systems to the shared software.
- Tether’s QVAC mining agent is already operating on MDK, according to the company.
- MDK’s stable 1.0 release is targeted for the end of 2026.
According to Tether’s October 24 announcement, participating companies will develop and maintain software connections that allow different mining machines and services to operate through a common system. The initiative includes major hardware manufacturers and mining pools, with its first stable software release planned for the end of 2026.
Tether brings 15 Bitcoin mining companies onto its MDK platform
Among the participants are Bitmain, Bitdeer, Canaan, MicroBT, Foundry Digital, F2Pool, Luxor Technology and OCEAN. The group includes companies involved in manufacturing mining equipment, operating facilities and managing the pools miners use to receive rewards.
Other participants include ACME Swisstech, Elektron Energy, EMCD, Heatbit, Proto, SpiderPool and Stratum V2. Their involvement brings different parts of the mining industry into the same development initiative.
Tether introduced MDK in April as an open-source Bitcoin mining framework that allows developers to monitor equipment and build applications without relying entirely on software provided by individual manufacturers.
The latest announcement concerns commitments to build and maintain integrations. Tether did not say that all 15 companies had completed their connections or deployed MDK across their mining operations.
No deployment figures, performance comparisons or cost savings were disclosed for the participating companies.
How will Tether’s mining software work?
Large Bitcoin mining facilities often operate thousands of machines built by different manufacturers. Equipment, cooling systems and mining pools may each use separate management software, requiring operators to switch between platforms or develop custom connections.
MDK is designed to address that problem through software components called Workers. Each participating company will develop a Worker that translates information from its own equipment or services into a format understood by applications built on MDK.
A mining operator could then use compatible monitoring and automation tools across different machines without rebuilding the entire application for every manufacturer.
The arrangement does not require companies to replace their existing equipment or surrender control over their operating systems. Participants choose which functions to make available through the shared interface.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said software would increasingly operate physical infrastructure instead of merely providing information about it.
“That does not work at scale if every machine speaks a different language,” Ardoino said, explaining why the company wants mining operators and equipment manufacturers to adopt common software interfaces.
The framework follows Tether’s decision to release its Mining OS as open-source software in February. That system was designed to manage mining hardware, energy use and operational information, while MDK provides tools for developers to build additional applications.
AI agents could manage mining equipment through MDK
Tether expects the common interface to support AI applications that monitor equipment, identify faults and adjust operations based on changing conditions.
Its QVAC mining agent is already operating directly on MDK, according to the company. Tether describes the application as an example of AI software communicating with mining infrastructure without requiring a separate connection for every system.
The announcement did not provide independent results showing how much the agent improves electricity consumption, mining output or maintenance costs.
Ardoino reinforced the announcement in a post on X, describing the project as “One Bitcoin Mining dev platform to mine them all.”
The mining initiative forms part of Tether’s work on AI infrastructure. Recently, the company participated in Tenstorrent’s funding round, which raised $1.5 billion at a $6.2 billion valuation.
Tether did not disclose its individual investment in the chipmaker. Its AI development work includes software designed to run models on personal devices without relying on centralized cloud services.
Tether targets stable MDK release by December
MDK was scheduled to reach version 0.11 during the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano, held October 23–24. Tether said its first stable version, 1.0, remains targeted for release before the end of 2026.
Developers can already access the framework to experiment with integrations and build applications. The company has opened participation to additional equipment manufacturers, mining pools, facility operators and software developers.
The April release introduced a JavaScript development kit and a React user interface library designed to support custom dashboards and equipment controls. Tether said the software can operate on Windows, macOS and Linux, with installations ranging from home mining equipment to large industrial facilities.
