Jean-Louis van der Velde

$38B

as of 03/13/26

About Jean-Louis van der Velde

JL van der Velde is the former CEO of crypto firm Tether and the CEO of its sister company, Bitfinex.

Van der Velde left the Netherlands in 1985 to attend university in Taiwan and subsequently cofounded several IT and tech startups in Asia prior to joining Tether.

The biggest stablecoin issuer, Tether generated more than $10 billion in profit in 2025, largely from interest on the reserves backing USDT.

He owns an estimated 19% of the business.

Personal stats

Citizenship

Netherlands

Source of wealth

Cryptocurrency

Residence

Hong Kong

Self-made

self-made