Jean-Louis van der Velde

Jean-Louis van der Velde is a technologist and entrepreneur whose career has centred on financial technology, payments and infrastructure. Over roughly three decades in the industry he has worked at the intersection of software engineering, product development and commercial operations. His experience spans building mission-critical systems for high-throughput environments, leading technical teams through growth phases, and adapting legacy payments concepts to newer, digital-asset paradigms.

Van der Velde is known for a pragmatic engineering-led approach to product development and operations. Throughout his career he has emphasised reliability, observability and risk-aware design in systems that handle real money flows. He has also been involved in entrepreneurial ventures and in expanding technology offerings across multiple markets, bringing an operational perspective to the challenges of scale and regulatory compliance that characterise modern financial services.

As CEO of Tether, van der Velde is responsible for overseeing the issuer and operator of one of the most widely used stablecoins in crypto markets. In that capacity he manages a broad portfolio of responsibilities including product operations, engineering, business development and liaison with counterparties. His role involves directing efforts to maintain service continuity, expand product accessibility and ensure that the platform can meet demand from exchanges, custodians and institutional participants.

In public and industry-facing activities he has positioned operational robustness and transparency of practices as central priorities. Under his leadership, the organisation has navigated a complex landscape of market volatility and regulatory scrutiny that affects stablecoins globally. He works with legal, compliance and treasury teams to adapt reserve management and reporting practices while also pursuing technical improvements intended to enhance interoperability and reliability across the digital-asset ecosystem.

Van der Velde’s stated outlook emphasises the role of stablecoins and tokenised money as plumbing for a modern financial system, provided they are accompanied by robust controls and clear risk management. He advocates for engineering standards that support high-availability financial services and for constructive engagement with regulators and industry groups to clarify rules that affect stablecoin issuers and their partners. He also highlights product-level work on integrations and tooling that enable broader institutional use.

In recent years his focus has balanced operational stewardship with strategic initiatives: improving treasury and reserve transparency, scaling infrastructure to handle settlement and liquidity demands, and exploring technical paths that improve cross-chain usability. He sits at the junction of technology, product and regulatory engagement, and his tenure reflects the practical challenges of operating large-scale payment instruments in an evolving legal and market environment.