Tether / Bitfinex

Tether / Bitfinex is a Bitcoin company in the Stablecoins & Payments category, founded in 2014 by Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins, Craig Sellars, JL van der Velde, Giancarlo Devasini.

The Idea

Bitfinex launched in December 2012 as a Bitcoin exchange. Tether followed in July 2014 as Realcoin, founded by Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins, and Craig Sellars and renamed Tether that November, a token pegged to the U.S. dollar and first pitched as a 'real-time settlement system' for Bitcoin. Crucially, the two are now sister companies, owned and run by the same group, including Giancarlo Devasini and JL van der Velde, who came to control Tether while operating Bitfinex, and Bitfinex became one of the first exchanges to adopt USDT. Their finances stayed entangled, most visibly when New York's attorney general found in 2019 that Bitfinex had quietly tapped Tether's reserves to cover an $850M shortfall. Tether went on to become the dominant dollar-backed stablecoin.

Early Traction

In the early years, Tether provided exchanges with dollar deposits and banking relationships. Because USDT moved on digital asset rails around the clock, traders could hold and settle dollars against Bitcoin 24/7, including weekends when the banks were closed, and Tether became the lubricant of the entire ecosystem.

Peak Stats

USDT's market cap is around $184B, roughly 58% of the entire stablecoin market, making it one of the most-transacted assets in the world. Tether is now extraordinarily profitable, clearing over $10B in net profit in 2025. Bitfinex remains a major global exchange by volume.

Status Today

Active and now hugely profitable, though perpetually controversial. Tether has never undergone a comprehensive, independent audit, publishing quarterly attestations instead, and has weathered multiple banking crises (including losing its Taiwanese bank relationships in 2021).