Stablecoin issuer Tether promoted its long-time chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, to chief executive officer.

Ardoino will take the new role in December, succeeding Jean-Louis van der Velde, who will transition to an advisory role, Tether said Friday. Velde will retain his position as CEO for Bitfinex, a crypto exchange and sister company of Tether. At the same time, Ardoino will continue as CTO for Bitfinex and chief strategy officer for Holepunch, a peer-to-peer applications building platform backed by Bitfinex, Tether and Hypercore.

Ardoino will also continue to oversee Tether's technology department "for the time being," a company spokesperson told The Block.

Ardoino joined Bitfinex in 2014 and Tether in 2017.

Ardoino's promotion comes as Tether envisions becoming "a …