Tether is one of the most important financial companies to have ever existed.
The company’s flagship product, USDT, has a market capitalization of over $180 billion, has investments in over 120 other companies, and its family of subsidiaries and investments span nearly every corner of the crypto industry.
It did all this while appearing to maintain a much leaner team than many of its competitors, even though it had to deal with various external legal and regulatory pressures.
Many have speculated as to what the secret to this success is, but one possible reason may be the family ties that many executives and leaders enjoy.
Lorenzo Romagnoli and Giancarlo Devasini
Operated by Everdawn Labs Limited, USDT0 is an asset that claims to “standardize the way Tether assets are extended to new blockchains.”
The press release highlights that USDT0 and Everdawn Labs were co-founded by “Lorenzo R,” and Alex Lim of LayerZero posted a photo with X user “Zerolore,” whose bio identifies him as the co-founder of USDT0.
Photo from Alex Lim’s X account
Photo from Queen Mary Blockchain Society Facebook
This information, combined with a little detective work on the Queen Mary Blockchain Association, allows us to identify “Zero Roll” as Lorenzo Romagnoli.
We can further support this identification by identifying the directors of Everdawn Labs Limited in the British Virgin Islands. Directors include:
- Kino Wilhelm
- kevin muller
- Lorenzo Romagnoli
Queen Mary Blockchain Society will also help identify an X account with the username “Romagnoli_99” and the name “Lorenzo Romagnoli” that interacted with Queen Mary Blockchain Society.
The account is currently inactive, but frequently retweets boasting about USDT’s market cap and promotes Popsicle Finance and ICE tokens.
It also often retweets Daniele Sestagali’s posts, eventually allowing those who supported the defunct Popsicle Finance project to exchange their tokens for a new project branded around WAGMI tokens.
Read more: Criminals seem to have nine lives when it comes to cryptocurrencies
Mr. Sestagali is perhaps best known for his association with financial criminal Omar Dhanani and their Magic Internet Money and Abracadabra projects.
Returning to Lorenzo and USDT0, Everdawn Labs’ address is listed on its website as Trinity Chambers, PO Box 4301, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
This is the exact same post office box that Giancarlo Debasini, Tether chairman and Bitfinex chief financial officer, lists as his mailing address in SEC filings.
Further contributing to the overlap between these companies is the fact that Everdawn Labs relies on SHRM TRUSTEES (BVI) LIMITED as its registered agent, which is the same registered agent that Tether relies on.
Adding to the closeness, a Facebook page linked by the Queen Mary Blockchain Association also revealed that Lorenzo has a father named Marco Romagnoli.
Italian newspapers say this is an important detail. press I was able to interview Mr. Marco Romagnoli, who turned out to be Mr. Giancarlo’s brother-in-law.
Taken together, these connections suggest a more familial relationship between Tether and USDT0 than previously revealed, with people familiar with the situation describing Lorenzo as Devasini’s nephew.
Protoss contacted both Tether Laboratories and Everdawn Laboratories to confirm the family relationship, but neither responded prior to publication.
Giancarlo Devasini and Valentina Picozzi
Lorenzo is not the only member of Devasini’s family to work with Tether.
Satoshi Gallery artist Valentina Picozzi has collaborated with Tether, including on the Satoshi statue unveiled at Plan B in Lugano.
Plan B, operated by AltKey SA, is managed by Davide Rovelli, who heads special projects services for Tether and Bitfinex.
The Satoshi statue, which Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino claimed is “a testament to Bitcoin’s revolutionary impact and the idea of decentralization,” is now part of a series.
The latest copy was introduced to the New York Stock Exchange by Tether-backed Twenty One Capital.
Picozzi is also the author of the following books: to the moona children’s book aimed at introducing children to Bitcoin, begins: “Many years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto, a brilliant scientist and inventor, lived on the planet Genesis with his alpaca, Alfie.”
I won’t spoil the entire story, but take comfort in knowing that Alfie the alpaca convinces Nakamoto to leave Genesis to “explore cryptospace.”
Read more: Tether investment: What the $100 billion stablecoin empire is doing with its profits
Picozzi’s Satoshigallery uses Tether in some of its artwork and tags Ardoino in posts about it.
Additionally, an interview conducted by Ariana Grava posted on Picozzi’s Instagram claimed that Picozzi created both the Bitfinex and Tether logos.
Image from Valentina Picozzi’s Instagram
The Wall Street Journal reports that Picozzi is Devasini’s wife.
Interestingly, the Financial Times Alphaville described Picozzi as Devasini’s “long-time girlfriend,” but also noted that she said in an interview that “her husband became interested in Bitcoin” around 2012, when Devasini invested in Bitfinex.
Sieg For, in his book numbers go upsettled on describing her as Devasini’s “much younger partner”.
Whether or not they are legally intertwined, it seems widely agreed that the two are romantically involved.
More conclusively, Devasini and Picozzi bought a house together in San Salvador.
Protos reached out to Tether for clarification on the relationship between Devasini and Picozzi, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Paolo Ardoino and Claudia Lagorio
Ardoino is a very busy businessman. He is CEO of Tether, Chief Technology Officer of Bitfinex, and Chief Strategy Officer of Holepunch.
Claudia Lagorio has also been busy, serving as the Chief Operating Officer of both Bitfinex and Tether.
Mr. Lagorio also serves on the boards of several other companies, including UBQ UK Ecosystem Services LTD. and UBQ SA.
Read more: Tether ready to move to El Salvador
Lagorio and Ardoino are another couple that could definitely be considered close enough to be roommates.
The two had bought property together in San Salvador and had been rumored to be married for years.
Protoss asked Tether for an explanation of the relationship, but did not receive a response before publication.
Christopher and William Harborn
Christopher Herborn, who sometimes goes by his Thai name Chakrit Sakunkrit, is a pilot, aviation fuel trader, British defense contractor, and shareholder in Digfinex, the historical parent company of Bitfinex and Tether.
William Harborne leads a project called rhino.fi, formerly known as DeversiFi and before that EthFinex.
Read more: Tether enters “partnership” with former sister company rhino.fi fka Ethfinex
EthFinex became DeversiFi as part of a so-called “management acquisition,” with a portion of its trading volume returned to sister company Bitfinex and the remaining interest spun out as DeversiFi.
William is Christopher’s son, but before you assume that Christopher had any role in getting his son into a position related to equity investing, it’s worth noting that in his lawsuit against the Journal, Christopher claimed that he “does not currently hold any management or executive role at Bitfinex or Tether; he is merely a minority shareholder.”
Echoes of Ellison and Bankman Freed
When FTX and Alameda Research collapsed, one of the scandalous details that caught the public’s attention was the romantic relationship between Sam Bankman Freed and Caroline Ellison.
Some have speculated that part of the reason Ellison had a hard time denying Bankman Freed’s criminal requests was because of their complicated relationship.
Similarly, while Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao is barred from leading the company, the mother of their children, Yi He, was able to step into the breach.
This raises interesting questions about the extent of Zhao’s influence, especially as he continues to introduce new products around X.
Understanding the family ties is important to understanding Tether, as it controls a much larger financial conglomerate than FTX or Alameda Research.
