Giancarlo Devasini: Tether’s Owner, Richer Than Piero Ferrari

Devasini is the largest shareholder of Tether, with an estimated 47% stake, which, according to Forbes, is the source of his $9.2 billion fortune. This makes him the 3rd richest person in crypto, behind Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong.

He even surpasses Piero Ferrari, Vice President of the luxury sports car company and son of Enzo Ferrari, whose net worth is around $8.6 billion.

So, what’s the story behind Devasini and his surprising career path? Keep reading to find out.

From Plastic Surgery to Crypto: How Devasini Started His Career 

Giancarlo Devasini was born in 1964 in Turin, Italy. He studied medicine at the University of Milan but eventually realized that a career in hospitals wasn’t the right fit for him.

According to his Bitfinex profile, after stepping away from medicine, Devasini decided to pursue a career more aligned with his interest in technology.

He entered the computer hardware industry, traveling to the Far East to explore opportunities. After returning to Milan, he started importing and distributing computer parts.

A few years later, he founded Solo SpA, a company that focused on sorting and reselling DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory) chips. It did well until the 2008 financial crisis hit and led to its closure.

In 2012, Devasini came across Bitcoin. That same year, he met Raphael Nicolle, who was building Bitfinex from the wreckage of Bitcoinica (a now-defunct platform). Devasini jumped on board as an investor and partner.

Since November 2012, he’s been the CFO of Bitfinex, managing all things finance. He played a big role in setting up banking relationships, hiring new staff, and shifting Bitfinex’s banking operations from the British Virgin Islands to Hong Kong, where its parent company, iFinex Inc., operates now.

Bitfinex mentions that he travels a lot and splits his time between London and the French Riviera.

Devasini and Tether: The Rocky Road to the Stablecoin Empire

Tether Holdings was founded in 2014, a few years after Bitfinex, by former child actor Brock Pierce and software engineers Reeve Collins and Craig Sellars.

They created a stablecoin called RealCoin, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, and later renamed it Tether to avoid confusion with altcoins. Each USDTether (USDT) stablecoin is backed 100% by reserve assets held by Tether, although this point has raised disputes. 

Over time, USDT has gained large popularity. According to CoinMarketCap, it’s the largest stablecoin with a market cap of over $139 billion, which means there’s the same amount of coins in circulation. 

In November 2014, Tether announced several partners, including Bitfinex. Although the relationship was not clearly defined, media, community forums, and legal entities started to actively discuss the fact that the companies share top executives, where Devasini was a main figure. 

Then, there were leaked documents known as the Paradise Papers showing that Devasini and Philip Potter, former Chief Strategy Officer of Bitfinex, founded Tether in 2014. 

There were concerns about the legitimacy of USDT flowing directly to Bitfinex, as it could potentially impact crypto prices and influence supply and demand dynamics. On top of that, questions around USDT’s reserves have raised major concerns for regulators.

Surviving Hacks 

Bitfinex and Tether have faced challenges since their early years. In 2015, Bitfinex lost nearly 1,500 bitcoins in a hack, worth about $400,000 at the time. This theft was from the company’s wallet and represented just 0.06% of its total holdings.

Then in 2016, Bitfinex was hit with one of the largest crypto hacks in history, losing nearly 120,000 bitcoins, valued at around $72 million at the time. After an investigation, a husband-and-wife duo of crypto hackers, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, were arrested and found guilty.

Despite this disaster, Bitfinex survived. As CFO, Devasini played a key role in evaluating the financial impact and creating a recovery plan. To compensate affected users, Bitfinex issued BFX tokens at a 1:1 ratio to cover the lost funds.

Wells Fargo Case and the $180 Million Issue

In March 2017, Bitfinex and Tether ran into a major problem when Wells Fargo, acting as their correspondent bank, suddenly stopped processing U.S. dollar wire transfers. This basically stopped them from being able to handle customer deposits and withdrawals, creating some serious liquidity issues.

To fight back, Bitfinex sued Wells Fargo, claiming the bank’s decision was causing “imminent and irreparable harm” by freezing their wire transfer operations. But here’s the twist – right after filing, they dropped the lawsuit without explaining why.

Troubles With Financial Audits and Regulations

Tether’s financial transparency has been a hot topic for years. They’ve always claimed that every USDT is backed by reserves, but people have questioned whether that’s actually true. 

The main issue? They’ve never done a full, independent audit. Instead, they’ve released attestations by BDO Italia – quick snapshots of their reserves – which critics argue aren’t the same as a deep, detailed audit. 

Reports regularly published on Tether’s website state that the institution’s opinion is limited to figures at the time of the audit. But it doesn’t cover where the assets are from and who they belong to. 

In 2021, Tether had to settle with the New York Attorney General, paying an $18.5 million fine after being accused of misrepresenting its reserves. As part of the deal, they also had to stop doing business in New York.

According to the Wall Street Journal, some business associates of Devasini have said he refuses to travel to the U.S. for fear of arrest. The Journal also touched on the relationship between U.S. Commerce Secretary and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, who is a major investor in Tether. This raised questions on Wall Street about whether Giancarlo Devasini could benefit from the political situation in the U.S.

Why Does Giancarlo Devasini Keep Silence? 

Giancarlo Devasini is almost invisible in the public eye. His X (Twitter) account was deleted in 2021, and he’s not active in public forums or community discussions.

One of the biggest critics of Bitfinex and Devasini, an anonymous X user named @Bitfinexed, suggested that Devasini’s account disappearance came after a Bloomberg article raised questions about Tether’s reserves.

The main person speaking for Tether is its CEO, Paolo Ardoino. He’s the one handling media interviews, making public statements, and responding to concerns about Tether’s reserves, regulations, and overall operations.

Devasini hasn’t commented on any of the claims surrounding Tether, including accusations of money laundering or concerns about being delisted from European exchanges due to not meeting MICA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) standards.

Meanwhile, Paolo Ardoino dismissed the claims as “FUD,” stating that the company complies with the law and has not violated regulations. Tether is working on solutions to stay in Europe and remains the leading stablecoin.

Despite his low public profile, Devasini still attracts attention beyond the crypto community. The question of whether there are secrets behind his wealth and whether Tether will retain its market dominance continues to linger.