An AI agent can monitor machines, identify problems, optimize performance, and eventually take action autonomously. But it cannot effectively manage thousands of machines if every piece of infrastructure communicates differently. Before autonomous systems can operate physical infrastructure at scale, the infrastructure itself needs a common way to be understood and controlled. MDK provides that foundation.
Each participating company will build and maintain an MDK Worker: a translation layer that connects its own hardware, mining pool, or system to MDK. The Worker translates that company’s existing interface into a common language that applications built on MDK can understand. Companies do not have to replace their technology or surrender control of their systems. They simply expose the functions they choose through the same open interface.
That distinction is central to the model. MDK is not an attempt to make every manufacturer or mining pool operate the same way. It is designed to make different systems interoperable.
Once that layer exists, developers can build an application, monitoring system, or AI agent against MDK rather than separately engineering it for every manufacturer and pool. As more companies maintain their own Workers, the same application can operate across a growing portion of the mining industry. The result is infrastructure that becomes easier to automate, easier to build on, and less dependent on any single vendor.
“We are entering a period where software will increasingly operate physical infrastructure, not simply report on it,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “That does not work at scale if every machine speaks a different language. Mining is one of the clearest examples of this problem today. MDK gives companies a way to keep control of their own technology while creating the common foundation developers and autonomous systems need to work across it.”
Tether’s QVAC mining agent is already operating directly on MDK, providing an early demonstration of the model: an AI application interacting with mining infrastructure through a common layer rather than requiring a new integration for every system it encounters. The initial 15 commitments are an early step toward a broader ecosystem. MDK remains open to any manufacturer, mining pool, operator, or developer, with additional Workers, applications, and tools expected as more of the industry builds on the shared foundation.
Across Bitcoin, AI, communications, energy and financial infrastructure, Tether is focused on reducing the fragmentation that prevents technology from operating at global scale. MDK brings that approach to mining, creating an open layer on which companies can build the tools and autonomous systems that will operate the industry next.
MDK will reach version 0.11 at the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano on October 23–24, with its first stable 1.0 release targeted by the end of 2026. Developers do not need to wait for 1.0. MDK is open source today, allowing manufacturers, mining pools, operators, and developers to begin testing integrations, building Workers, and developing applications through the repository and documentation.
*Note: The complete alphabetical list of participating mining companies, ASIC manufacturers, and pools follows below:
- ACME Swisstech
- Bitdeer
- BITMAIN
- Canaan Inc.
- Elektron Energy
- EMCD
- F2Pool
- Foundry Digital
- Heatbit Inc.
- Luxor Technology
- MicroBT
- OCEAN (Bitcoin Ocean, LLC)
- Proto (Block, Inc.)
- SpiderPool
- Stratum V2