Stuart Hoegner
Canadian lawyer and accountant; former general counsel of Tether and Bitfinex and an estimated part-owner of Tether
| Stuart Hoegner
| |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian (Forbes) |
| Residence | Toronto, Canada (Forbes) |
| Occupation | Lawyer, accountant |
| Known for | General counsel of Tether and Bitfinex (to January 2025); estimated shareholder in Tether |
| Education | Carleton University (BPA, 1993); University of Toronto Faculty of Law (law degree, 1996) |
Stuart Hoegner is a Canadian lawyer and accountant who was general counsel of the stablecoin issuer Tether and its sister exchange Bitfinex until his retirement, announced in January 2025.[1][2][3] Forbes estimates that he owns about 12% of Tether, and attributes his fortune to that stake.[4] On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Stuart Hoegner 101st in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$24.7 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Cryptocurrency.[4][5] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Stuart Hoegner 104th, at US$24.7 billion.[6] Before working for the two companies he practised as a gaming and cryptocurrency lawyer in Ontario, and in 2014 he gave evidence to the Canadian Senate on digital currencies on behalf of the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada.[1][7]
Education and early career
According to his Bitfinex biography, Hoegner obtained a BPA in economics and public administration from Carleton University in 1993 and a law degree from the University of Toronto in 1996. He spent eight years in the mergers and acquisitions tax group at Ernst & Young, and was later deputy general counsel and director of compliance at Excapsa, and principal at DXH Professional Corporation.[1] The same biography says he is called to the bar in Canada and the United States, is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the State Bar of Nevada and the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, and edited a book entitled The Law of Bitcoin.[1]
Forbes describes him as a Canadian certified accountant who started a boutique law practice, Gaming Counsel Professional Corporation, for online gambling and cryptocurrency clients. Forbes also says that Excapsa Software was an online poker company that became caught up in a cheating scandal involving its software.[4]
Tether and Bitfinex
The dates given for Hoegner's start at the two companies differ between sources. His 2018 Bitfinex biography says he joined Bitfinex in 2014, and Forbes's 2026 profile says he served as general counsel of both companies from 2014.[1][4] In a sworn affirmation filed in a New York court in April 2019, Hoegner himself said that he became general counsel of Bitfinex and of Tether in 2016, having worked for the companies on an hourly basis between 2014 and 2016.[8]
On 2 January 2025 Tether and Bitfinex announced that Hoegner had retired and that Michael Hilliard, who had co-led the companies' legal work with him for several years, would take over.[2] Cointelegraph reported that the retirement was a separate event from the coming into force of the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules.[3] Forbes's current real-time profile gives his tenure as general counsel as 2014 to 2024.[4]
Tether says it issued nearly US$50 billion of new USDT in 2025 and made net profits of more than US$10 billion. Its year-end attestation was prepared by the accounting firm BDO for Tether International, S.A. de C.V.[9] In January 2025 Tether said it was completing its move to El Salvador after obtaining a digital-asset service provider licence there.[10]
The 2019 New York affirmation
In April 2019 the New York Attorney General obtained an order against iFinex (Bitfinex's operator) and the Tether companies. Hoegner's affirmation of 30 April 2019, filed in support of the companies' application to vacate or modify that order, set out their account of events. It said Bitfinex had used a payment processor called Crypto Capital from about January 2015, that Crypto Capital later failed to return funds, and that US$675 million moved from Bitfinex's Crypto Capital account to Tether's had been folded into a credit facility from Tether to Bitfinex. It also said 60,000,000 iFinex shares had been pledged to Tether as a condition of that facility.[8] The affirmation stated that Tether then held about US$2.1 billion in cash and short-term securities, "approximately 74 percent of the current outstanding tethers".[8] CoinDesk reported the statement as an admission that the stablecoin was no longer fully backed by cash.[11]
Regulatory actions against Tether and Bitfinex
In February 2021 the New York Attorney General announced an agreement with iFinex, Tether and related companies. The Attorney General said Bitfinex and Tether had misled clients and the market by overstating reserves and hiding about US$850 million of losses. The companies were barred from trading with New Yorkers, required to make quarterly reports on matters including the segregation of corporate and client accounts, and ordered to pay US$18.5 million in penalties.[12] In October 2021 the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered Tether to pay a US$41 million civil penalty over untrue or misleading statements that its USDT stablecoin was fully backed by US dollars. It also ordered Bitfinex to pay US$1.5 million for illegal off-exchange transactions and for operating as an unregistered futures commission merchant.[13] These actions were against the companies, not against individual executives.[12][13]
Wealth
Forbes's real-time profile estimates his stake in Tether at about 12%; the profile published with the 2026 annual list put it at about 13%.[4] Forbes attributes Tether's profits mainly to interest earned on the reserves backing its USDT token.[4] Tether has not published a shareholder register, and no filing confirming Hoegner's holding was found in the sources checked.
Wealth history
Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 3 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2024. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.[6][4]
| Year | World's Billionaires rank | Net worth (US$ bn) |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1330 | 2.5 |
| 2025 | 561 | 6.2 |
| 2026 | 104 | 24.7 |
Philanthropy
No documented philanthropic programme in Hoegner's name was found in the sources checked.
Political activity
In October 2014 Hoegner appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, which was studying digital currency, as general counsel of the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada. He described the alliance as a federal not-for-profit corporation promoting the adoption of bitcoin in Canada. He discussed the Bill C-31 amendments that brought dealers in virtual currencies within the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, and asked the committee to come to understand crypto-currency rather than make further policy changes at that point.[7] No political donations or lobbying registrations in his name were found in the sources checked. A search of US federal (FEC) records for his name (2022–2026 cycles) returned no itemised contributions.[14]
Controversies and legal issues
The New York and CFTC settlements of 2021 concerned the companies for which Hoegner was general counsel; they were not actions against him personally.[12][13] His April 2019 affirmation, described above, is part of the New York record.[8]
International and political links
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
Company level: in October 2023 Tether said it had frozen 32 addresses linked to terrorism and warfare in Israel and Ukraine. CNBC reported that this was done in cooperation with Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing.[15][16]
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
In 2014 he gave evidence to the Canadian Senate's banking committee on behalf of the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada.[7] Company level: Tether and Bitfinex settled with the New York Attorney General and the US CFTC in 2021.[12][13]
Other international links
Company level: in January 2025 Tether said it was relocating to El Salvador after obtaining a digital-asset service provider licence there.[10]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Bitfinex, Bitfinex Leadership – Stuart Hoegner, General Counsel Bitfinex blog, 12 March 2018, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 RT Watson, Tether and Bitfinex General Counsel Stuart Hoegner retires, Michael Hilliard takes charge The Block, 2 January 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cointelegraph, Tether general counsel Stuart Hoegner retires Cointelegraph, 3 January 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Forbes, Forbes profile record for Stuart Hoegner (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/stuart-hoegner/) Forbes, live record, read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Senate of Canada, Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, Issue 14 – Evidence – October 2, 2014 Senate of Canada, 2 October 2014, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Stuart Hoegner, Affirmation of Stuart Hoegner, In the Matter of the Inquiry of Letitia James v. iFinex Inc. et al., Index No. 450545/2019 (NYSCEF Doc. No. 24; copy hosted by kalzumeus.com) Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, 30 April 2019, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Tether, Tether Delivers $10B+ Profits in 2025, $6.3B in Excess Reserves, and Record $141 billion Exposure in U.S. Treasury Holdings Tether, 30 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Tether, Tether Licensed in El Salvador, Strengthening Focus on Emerging Markets and Innovation Tether, 13 January 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Nikhilesh De, Tether Lawyer Admits Stablecoin Now 74% Backed by Cash and Equivalents CoinDesk, 30 April 2019, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Office of the New York State Attorney General, Attorney General James Ends Virtual Currency Trading Platform Bitfinex’s Illegal Activities in New York New York State Attorney General, 23 February 2021, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC Orders Tether and Bitfinex to Pay Fines Totaling $42.5 Million (release 8450-21) U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 15 October 2021, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ U.S. Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC Schedule A (itemised individual contributions) query, contributor name "HOEGNER, STUART"; 2026 cycle shown in link, the 2022, 2024 and 2026 cycles were queried together with the same parameters; top 100 records by amount; records filtered by employer/occupation and name, memo entries excluded U.S. Federal Election Commission, data as filed; queried 20 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Tether, Tether Freezes 32 Addresses Linked to Terrorism and Warfare in Israel and Ukraine Tether, 16 October 2023, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ MacKenzie Sigalos, Tether freezes 32 crypto wallets holding $873,118 linked to terrorism and warfare in Israel, Ukraine CNBC, 16 October 2023, accessed 21 October 2026.