By Elizabeth Howcroft
LONDON (Reuters) -Crypto firm Tether’s Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino will also become its CEO from December, the company said on Friday, in a surprise management shake-up for one of the crypto world’s top tokens.
Current CEO Jean-Louis van der Velde will “transition to an advisory role for Tether”, the company said in a statement.
Tether issues a stablecoin, also called Tether, which is designed to maintain a constant value of $1 and is widely used in crypto-to-crypto trading.
There is $83.5 billion worth of Tether in circulation, making it the third-biggest cryptocurrency after bitcoin and ether, according to CoinGecko.
Little is known about van der Velde, who keeps a low public profile. It is Ardoino who acts as the public face of the company, posting regularly on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, and speaking to journalists.
Ardoino became chief technology officer of Tether in 2017, the company said. He said on X on Friday that he was “excited and humbled” to become CEO.
Van der Velde said in the company statement that Ardoino was “extremely well-suited to lead Tether into this exciting new era.”
ARDOINO’S TECH DREAMS
Ardoino studied computer science at university in Genoa, Italy, according to Bitfinex’s website.
After graduating in 2008 he worked as a researcher for a military project, while experimenting “extensively” with cryptography, then began developing finance-related applications in 2010, the website says.
On his LinkedIn profile, Ardoino describes himself as a highly-skilled programmer and says his philosophy is rooted in the “cypherpunk and open-source movements”.
“Cypherpunk” can refer to people in favour of using cryptography and other technology to increase their privacy or anonymity online.
“My greatest passion is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with technology,” Ardoino’s profile says, listing his location as the UK.
Ardoino has used his account on X to criticise media coverage of Tether.
TETHER’S RESERVES
The company says its peg is maintained by Tether’s holdings of dollar-based assets, including U.S. Treasuries.
As part of a 2021 settlement with the New York Attorney General’s office, Tether agreed to provide quarterly reports on its reserves for two years. Tether said on its website that it completed this requirement earlier this year.
U.S. regulators have warned banks that stablecoin reserves could be subject to rapid outflows, for example if holders rushed to exchange such tokens back into traditional currency.
Tether’s statement did not say where Ardoino and van der Velde are based, where Tether is based or how many employees it has.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)
