Tether CEO's Cow GIF Reveals 70% Stake in Farming Firm Adecoagro

Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, shared an animated GIF of a cow on Monday with the caption “Here’s a Stable Cow,” confirming that the company holds a majority interest in the agricultural business Adecoagro (AGRO).

The lighthearted post points to tangible assets. Adecoagro produces sugarcane, rice, and dairy products, and maintains a herd of over 14,500 milk-producing cows.

The Agricultural Operations Behind Tether's 'Stable Cows'

During 2025, Tether increased its ownership in Adecoagro to roughly 70% through a tender offer. In the Argentine Humid Pampas region, the company operates four free-stall dairy facilities. Additionally, two biodigesters turn cattle manure into biogas, supplying electricity to the local power grid.

Here's a Stable Cow https://t.co/IxUuSqQc2G pic.twitter.com/iS66N4KAeV

— Paolo Ardoino 🤖 (@paoloardoino) August 31, 2026

In a separate message, Ardoino broke down the investment into its components.

$AGRO = 🐄 + 🍅 + 🌽 + 🥛 + …..

Investors responded well to the framing. AGRO ended Monday at $11.38, up 5.96%, putting the company's valuation at roughly $1.55 billion.

The “Stable Cows” label also touches on the ongoing discussion about Tether's reserves. While KPMG approved the 2024 financial statements, the verified excess reserve cushion has since contracted by 40%. Farmland and cattle are not easily liquidated overnight, making those hard assets a complicating factor for liquidity analysis.

Cow Power and Its Role in Bitcoin Mining

Adecoagro has access to over 230 megawatts of renewable energy capacity across South America, coming from sugarcane bagasse, biogas, and mill cogeneration. This allows Tether to direct surplus electricity toward mining operations instead of selling it on unpredictable spot markets.

In September 2025, the two companies signed a mining memorandum. Adecoagro CEO Mariano Bosch described the arrangement as a way to secure a fixed price for power that the company currently sells on the spot market. Mining is now viewed more as an energy infrastructure business than a software activity.

Tether runs these operations using its own mining software, which the company has released as open source. This setup gives Tether direct control over system uptime, hardware fleets, and electricity expenses.

Competitors still tend to purchase coins directly. Michael Saylor describes corporate Bitcoin adoption as inevitable and continues to accumulate. Ardoino, in contrast, focuses on building the energy infrastructure first, mirroring state-backed mining approaches that view cheap energy as the main objective.

Adecoagro's upcoming earnings report will reveal whether Tether can undercut traditional grid contracts on cost. Investors will also be watching how quickly Tether integrates these farms into broader real world asset strategies.