Peak Mining has quietly changed hands again in a $200 million deal involving Tether insiders.
This time, the cryptocurrency miner was sold by Northern Data, a German AI data center company primarily owned by Tether, to three companies run by the very same people behind Tether. Northern Data announced the deal in November, confirming that it had sold its Bitcoin mining arm Peak Mining for “up to $200 million.”
U.S. filings later identified the buyers as Highland Group Mining Inc., Appalachian Energy LLC and 2750418 Alberta ULC. All three are tied directly to the top of the tether food chain. Highland Group is controlled by Tether co-founder and chairman Giancarlo Devasini and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, British Virgin Islands records show.
Canadian documents list Devasini as the sole director of Alberta ULC. Who runs Appalachian Energy? No one knows. The company is registered in Delaware and its directors are not publicly disclosed.
Tether executives sell to company that runs Peak Mining
Back in August, Northern Data announced it had entered into a “non-binding agreement” to sell Peak Mining to Electron Energy, a purported private Bitcoin miner. Who do you think runs Elektron? Yes, it's Devasini again.
The deal had a high price tag of $235 million, but it never went through. Now, just a few months later, Peak Mining has been offloaded to another company within the same internal network.
Incidentally, European prosecutors raided Northern's offices in Germany and Sweden in September on suspicion of tax evasion.
Authorities are investigating whether the company committed a “large-scale value-added tax fraud” and evaded more than 100 million euros in taxes. Northern Data responded by blaming “tax misunderstandings” related to its GPU cloud service and outdated crypto mining structure.
“We believe we are fully compliant with international tax standards and have been cooperating with European authorities,” the crypto miner said at the time.
Northern Data is listed on a regulated but unofficial German market and is required to report company updates, but does not have to disclose related-party transactions like this one. So while the sale of Peak Mining was legal, no one had to explain that Tether executives were on both sides of the deal.
Tether expands Rumble partnership with expansion of contract with Northern Data
Meanwhile, the asset sale comes just days before Tether-backed Rumble announced it would acquire Northern Data in a $767 million deal. Tether already owns a 48% stake in Rumble, a conservative video platform that also hosts President Donald Trump's social media network.
Once Rumble's acquisition of Northern Data is complete, Tether plans to purchase $150 million worth of GPU services from Rumble, and it already has a $100 million advertising deal in place.
It's not just the financial network. Tether also loaned Northern Data €610 million. Once Rumble completes the acquisition, half of the debt will be repaid with Rumble stock. What about the other half? This is a new loan from Tether to Rumble, secured by Northern Data's assets.
Northern Data's largest shareholders are Tether, its CEO, and another unnamed investor. Together they control 72% of the company, valued at approximately €885 million.
The second largest shareholder is Christian Angermeyer, known for his investments in biotechnology and the “Steroid Olympics” project. He recently moved from the UK to the crypto-friendly Swiss city of Lugano, where Devasini and Ardoino also live.
Mr. Devasini, a former plastic surgeon who ran a food delivery business, remains Tether's most powerful decision-maker, while Mr. Ardoino serves as the company's public face. Together, they are funneling Tether funds into mining, AI, social media, and back into their businesses.
