Tether's RGB Protocol Lead Federico Tenga Joins Utexo Advisory Board, Boosting Bitcoin-Native Stablecoin Infrastructure
Federico Tenga, a key architect of the RGB protocol at Tether, joins Utexo's advisory board, strengthening the company's technical leadership in building Bitcoin-native stablecoin and payment infrastructure.
Utexo, the team developing Bitcoin-native yield and payment infrastructure through the RGB protocol, announced today the appointment of Federico Tenga to its advisory board. Tenga, a foremost authority on RGB and a key architect behind its development, currently serves as R&D Strategist within the Bitfinex and Tether ecosystem, where he leads development of the RGB protocol implementation, the RGB Lightning node, and critical developer tooling.
His addition marks a major milestone in Utexo’s mission to build the foundational layer for stablecoin issuance and global payments on Bitcoin. Tenga’s work sits at the core of the infrastructure Utexo is built upon, providing direct technical expertise and strategic alignment with Tether, which co-led Utexo’s $7.5 million seed round.
“Federico is one of the people building the RGB ecosystem at the protocol level,” said Viktor Ihnatiuk, CEO of Utexo. “His decision to join Utexo’s advisory board reinforces how closely aligned we are with the future direction of Bitcoin. Federico brings deep technical expertise, and his insight will help ensure Utexo continues to push forward Bitcoin-native stablecoin infrastructure.”
As one of the primary contributors to RGB, Tenga leads the Bitfinex team developing key components, including the RGB Lightning node and Iris Wallet, a mobile application recognized as a user-friendly interface for interacting with RGB-based assets. His team also created rgb-lib, a widely adopted open-source Rust library that simplifies development on RGB. This tooling supports the broader ecosystem Utexo operates within.
“Utexo represents one of the most compelling real-world implementations of RGB today,” said Federico Tenga. “The team is focused on solving payment and liquidity challenges using Bitcoin as the base layer. The opportunity to help shape how stablecoins operate natively on Bitcoin at both the protocol and application level is compelling. I look forward to contributing to Utexo’s growth within the RGB ecosystem.”
Prior to his current role, Tenga co-founded Chainside, an Italian Bitcoin payment processor that enabled merchants to accept Bitcoin, including through a partnership with itTaxi, Italy’s largest taxi network. He also contributed to blockchain policy as a member of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development’s national blockchain task force.
Tenga’s involvement provides Utexo with direct visibility into the evolution of RGB, including emerging standards, performance improvements, and developer tooling. With Tenga joining its advisory board, Utexo continues to expand its technical leadership across Bitcoin, stablecoins, and financial infrastructure.