Utexo, a company developing Bitcoin-native yield and payment infrastructure through the RGB protocol, announced the appointment of Federico Tenga to its advisory board. Tenga is a leading authority on RGB and 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 developer tooling for Bitcoin-based assets.
This appointment marks a significant milestone for Utexo, as Tenga's expertise directly aligns with the company's mission to build foundational infrastructure for stablecoin issuance and global payments on Bitcoin. Viktor Ihnatiuk, CEO of Utexo, stated, "Federico is one of the people building the RGB ecosystem at the protocol level. 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."
Tenga's role at Bitfinex and Tether includes leading the team that developed the RGB Lightning node and Iris Wallet, a mobile application for interacting with RGB-based assets. His team also created rgb-lib, an open-source Rust library that simplifies development on RGB. This tooling supports the broader ecosystem in which Utexo operates.
The addition of Tenga also strengthens Utexo's strategic relationship with Tether, which co-led the company's $7.5 million seed round. Tenga's position within the Bitfinex and Tether ecosystem provides a direct technical link between Utexo and the teams advancing USDT's integration on Bitcoin via RGB. "Utexo represents one of the most compelling real-world implementations of RGB today," said 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."
Before 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 insight into the evolution of RGB, including emerging standards, performance improvements, and developer tooling. With this appointment, Utexo continues to expand its technical leadership in Bitcoin, stablecoins, and financial infrastructure.
