Jean-Louis van der Velde
Jean-Louis van der Velde is a Dutch entrepreneur who has been chief executive officer of the crypto exchange Bitfinex since 2013 and was chief executive officer of the stablecoin issuer TetherTether USDt (USD₮)Tether USDt (USD₮, commonly written as USDT) is a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin issued since 2014, formerly named Realcoin and co-founded by Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins, and Craig Sellars. The tokens are minted and redeemed by the issuing company on multiple blockchains, and the peg relies on reserves, the issuance and redemption mechanism, and market arbitrage; it is not a decentralized algorithmic stablecoin.Open the full entry until 2023.
Contents6 sections
Key facts
1985–2012Studies in Taiwan and Technology Ventures
Jean-Louis van der Velde is Dutch. In 1985 he left the Netherlands to attend university in Taiwan, studying at National Taiwan Normal University from 1985 to 1988, and he has lived in Asia ever since.[1][2]
He spent about 30 years in the international high-tech industry, co-founding several hardware and software IT companies working on embedded systems, video streaming, IPTV, digital TV, web applications and digital marketing; during the dot-com era he spoke at conferences on open source as co-founder of an embedded Linux company. He also held senior management roles at large public and private IT, distribution and manufacturing companies, and worked as an electronics importer and reseller.[2][1]
2013Becoming CEO of Bitfinex
In early 2013 van der Velde joined Bitfinex as chief executive officer and co-founder. He set up the holding company DigFinEx to develop and invest in fintech and big-data projects, built Bitfinex’s in-house anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer system, and worked with banking partners, regulators and law enforcement.[2]
2018Also CEO of Tether
As of March 2018 he was also chief executive officer of Tether; he lectured at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and was a guest lecturer on blockchain and regulation at National Taiwan University, and he served as an executive director of a Chinese automotive group and a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm.[2]
October 2023Stepping Down as Tether CEO
On October 13, 2023, Tether announced that chief technology officer Paolo ArdoinoPaolo ArdoinoPaolo Ardoino is an Italian software engineer and executive who has been chief executive of Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, since December 2023, while remaining chief technology officer of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. He joined Bitfinex in 2014, became Tether’s chief technology officer in 2017 and has been chief strategy officer of the peer-to-peer app developer Holepunch since 2022.Open the full entry would succeed van der Velde as chief executive officer; van der Velde moved to an advisory role at Tether and kept his position as chief executive officer of Bitfinex.[4]
As of November 2026 he is still listed as Bitfinex’s chief executive officer.[5]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Bitfinex: Official website: https://www.bitfinex.com/ (opens in a new window).[5]
LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlvdv/ (opens in a new window).[2]
Sources
- The unusual crew behind Tether, crypto’s pre-eminent stablecoin (opens in a new window)
- Bitfinex Leadership – Jean-Louis van der Velde, Chief Executive Officer (opens in a new window)
- Only 4 people controlled Tether Holdings as of 2018: Report (opens in a new window)
- Tether stablecoin firm appoints CTO Paolo Ardoino as CEO (opens in a new window)
- Bitfinex | About Us (opens in a new window)