Paolo Ardoino — CEO of Tether
What Paolo Ardoino does at Tether
A CEO is responsible for how the company works as a whole and speaks on its behalf. In October 2023 Tether announced that from December Ardoino would take over this post from Jean-Louis van der Velde, who would stay on at the company as an adviser1.
In practice, he is the person quoted in Tether's statements. In January 2025 he announced the move of the group's headquarters to El Salvador2, and in April 2026 he commented on how Tether, together with the US authorities, froze USDT at two addresses, that is, blocked it in two wallets3. How the company itself is organized, who else is on its leadership team and what claims regulators have brought against it is covered in the Tether profile.
- Wikipedia, «Paolo Ardoino» en.wikipedia.org ↩
- Bitfinex, «Bitfinex Leadership: Paolo Ardoino — Chief Technology Officer» blog.bitfinex.com ↩
- Tether, «Tether Appoints Paolo Ardoino as CEO» tether.io ↩
Ardoino's roles at Tether, Bitfinex and Holepunch
| Organization | Role | In this role since |
|---|---|---|
| Tether | CEO | 2023 |
| Bitfinex | chief technology officer | 2016 |
| Holepunch | co-founder, chief strategy officer | 2022 |
Ardoino joined Bitfinex as a developer in 2014, and in 2017 he also took on the role of chief technology officer at Tether1. He has been Bitfinex's chief technology officer since 2016, and as of 30.10.2026 the exchange's website lists him in that role45.
Holepunch is a platform for apps that connect users' devices directly, for example for video calls. It was launched in July 2022 with the participation of Tether and Bitfinex6, and in 2024 Holepunch named Ardoino as its co-founder and chief strategy officer7.
How to check a statement made in Ardoino's name
The name of Tether's head often comes up in the news, which makes it easy to slip into a fake message. Before you do anything with USDT because of such a message, check two things:
- Whether the same statement appears in Tether's news section. where to check: tether.io/news
- Whether the message asks you to send USDT, enter your seed phrase (the words used to restore a wallet) or pay for an "unfreeze". Official statements don't look like that, so don't rush and don't send anything.
