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Swan and Tether seem to be having a bit of a dispute over bitcoin mining that has spilled over into the courts.

The story sounds something like:

Giancarlo Devasini and Cory Klippsten decided to work together on bitcoin mining, forming 2040 Energy.
2040 Energy was principally funded by Tether (through Zettahash), Tether controlled the board of directors, and Swan owned a minority stake.
Swan consultants and executives helped operate 2040 Energy.
Swan consultants and executives resigned from roles with Swan and took on roles with an entity called Proton, which took over the management role for the bitcoin mines.

Swan subsequently sued Proton and those executives, alleging they misappropriated intellectual property and organized this exit with Tether.

Swan Bitcoin lawsuit targets former executives, implicates Tether

There are several immediate issues that jumped out to me, including that Tether controlled the entity in question, both in funding, shares, and on the board, and that the intellectual property in question did not scream "value."

Supposedly, these consultants and executives in their roles at Swan may have developed a dashboard that provided insight into the operation of the mines and the profitability thereof. Additionally, they also apparently developed some optimization techniques for the miners to increase profitability.

I'm not convinced that those things are super valuable, but perhaps I'm underestimating just how good Swan was at this.

Bitcoin mining firm Proton says Swan lawsuit 'fatally flawed'

Since then, Proton has responded, emphasizing the aforementioned issues. Namely, Tether actually had control the whole time.

The response from Proton also notes that its efforts could be considered as enhancing the value of Swan's minority stake and adds that "Swan's financial position was so precarious that it had to conduct a large round of layoffs in July 2024." It also says that this further motivated the exit of the executives.

Swan abandons mining and IPO, lays off employees

It also revealed that this dispute has been happening, noting that "Swan negotiated its dispute with Tether for more than six weeks. In an apparent attempt to gain leverage in those negotiations, has now filed this suit."