When Giancarlo Devasini first got into cryptocurrencies in 2012, his interests were distinctly small-time. He piped up on a popular Bitcoin forum to ask if anyone wanted to buy DVDs or CDs for 0.01 bitcoin each, then roughly 11 cents, promising free shipping for bulk orders.

Today, the 57-year-old is one of the most influential players in the global cryptocurrency marketplace. From his position as chief financial officer at Bitfinex, a major exchange, and at Tether, its sister currency which has tokens worth $60bn in circulation, industry executives say that he is the key decision maker at two companies that now sit at the heart of the opaque daily flows of crypto money worth billions of dollars.

As the world’s largest “stablecoin”, meaning a cryptocurrency pegged to other assets, Tether is an indispensable lubricant for investors moving in and out of more volatile cryptocurrencies. As a result of its dollar-asset backing, it has become the de facto reserve currency of the global crypto economy.