Reeve Collins is a pioneer in the stablecoin sector, best known for co-founding Tether, the first major stablecoin. His latest venture, STBL, is a project he describes as the next generation of stablecoins. Collins has also co-founded other ventures in the Web3 space, including BLOCKv, a platform for creating programmable NFTs, and Smart Media Technologies, an enterprise-grade Web3 platform.^[3][2][1][9]

Education

Reeve Collins graduated with a Marketing and Finance degree from Washington State University.^[9]

Career

Prior to co-founding Smart Media Technologies^[2], Reeve co-founded and was the CEO of BLOCKv ^[3], his second blockchain company. There, he raised $22 million in an ICO to deliver a platform for the creation of NFTs. ^[9]

At his first blockchain venture, he invented the stablecoin as the co-founder and CEO of Tether, a blockchain-based stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. Before the blockchain, Collins founded several ventures, including Traffic Marketplace^[4], an online ad network that was acquired by Vivendi Universal^[5], he then created RedLever^[6], a branded entertainment studio, acquired by Adconion Media Group^[7]. ^[9]

After that, he raised $70 million to launch a legal, real-money gambling site based in the US called Pala Interactive^[8]. His most memorable experience though was his first job, as one of the initial 10 employees of Avenue A/Razorfish^[10], an internet advertising agency. Avenue A went public at the peak of the Internet bubble for $6.6 Billion dollars. Reeve is passionate about cutting-edge technologies and delivering them to the world. ^[9]

1997 - 2002

In 1997, Reeve Collins served as an original employee at Avenue A/Razorfish^[10]. A company that went public during the Dot Com boom for $6.6 Billion dollars. ^[9][14]

In 2000, Collins co-founded Traffic Marketplace^[4], a business-to-audience online ad network integrated with multichannel digital marketing technologies. ^[9]

In 2002, Reeve Collins founded FusionDirect, a direct response television (DRTV) agency with a successful product line that grossed over $7 million in sales in its first year. ^[9]

2005 - 2012

In 2005, Reeve Collins co-founded FingerPrint Promotions, a platform that provides entertainment studios and businesses with specialty advertising, creative promotional products, apparel items, and custom goods where he served as the company's CEO until 2010. ^[9]

Collins founded Red Lever^[6] in 2007, a creative production house specializing in high-quality, branded online content development and targeted distribution. ^[9]

In 2012, Reeve Collins co-founded Pala Interactive^[8], a full-service real-money, and social gaming technology provider and operator focused on establishing a material position in the U.S.-regulated online gaming market and served as the company's CEO until 2015. ^[9]

2013 - 2019

Tether

In 2013, Reeve Collins co-founded Tether, a blockchain-based stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar and backed 100% by actual assets in the Tether platform’s reserve account in 2014 alongside Brock Pierce and Craig Sellars. ^[9][11]

Tether Operations Limited is the company operating the blockchain-enabled platform tether.to to facilitate the digital use of traditional currencies. ^[11] During his time at Tether, Collins oversaw the launch of the platform and was responsible for setting the company's strategic direction, leading product development and growth initiatives, and managing relationships with key stakeholders and partners. He also established a strong partnership between Tether and the banking industry, allowing users to deposit and withdraw fiat currency from the platform.

In 2015, Collins co-founded BLOCKv^[3], a platform for creating, minting, and distributing next-generation programmable NFTs. He served as the CEO of the company until December 2018. ^[9][13]

In 2019, Reeve Collins co-founded SmartMedia Technologies (SMT) ^[2] an enterprise-grade Web3 platform that fuses adtech with blockchain technology to create market-leading consumer activations for top global brands and agencies including Accenture, PepsiCo, and Verizon, that supercharge first-party data acquisition, user engagement and loyalty for digital and mobile-first audiences. ^[9][12]

2020 - Present

STBL and Stablecoin 2.0

In 2025, Collins embarked on a new venture to develop what he describes as "Stablecoin 2.0," a next-generation stablecoin designed to be productive, transparent, and community-owned. ^[15] He is the chairman and co-founder of the project, STBL, a decentralized protocol that launched on the BNB Chain in September 2025. ^[16][22]

Collins's vision for this new phase of stablecoins is to correct what he sees as the shortcomings of the first generation ("Stablecoin 1.0"), such as Tether and USDC. He argues that while these early stablecoins successfully digitized the dollar and provided essential liquidity for the crypto ecosystem, their economic benefits were centralized, flowing primarily to the corporate issuers rather than the users. ^[15][17]

“Stablecoins 1.0 enriched corporations. Stablecoins 2.0 empower communities.” ^[15]

The STBL protocol introduces a collaborative model built upon tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), such as U.S. Treasurys, money market funds, tokenized credit, and bonds, which are brought on-chain to back the stablecoin. The system is designed with two main participants: "Minters," who deposit tokenized RWAs as collateral to create the protocol's stablecoin, USST, and "Users," who can hold and transact with USST similarly to other stablecoins. ^[15][18]

A core feature of the STBL protocol is the separation of the stablecoin from its underlying yield. Collins explains that if the first wave of stablecoins digitized the dollar, this second generation financializes it by splitting principal and income into two programmable streams. When a minter deposits collateral, the system generates two distinct tokens: USST, the stablecoin pegged to the dollar, and YLD, a token that represents the yield generated by the underlying assets. This structure allows the digital dollar to remain liquid for payments and DeFi, while the yield becomes its own tradable asset. This allows minters to capture the full return on their collateral while creating a stable, liquid asset for the broader market. For regular users, holding USST provides the same utility as other digital dollars, but with the knowledge that they are supporting a decentralized community rather than a centralized corporation. ^[15][18][23]

Governance of the protocol is decentralized through the STBL token. Holders of STBL can vote on key parameters, including acceptable collateral types, risk parameters like haircut levels, and system fees. According to Collins, this community-led governance makes the network more resilient and aligns its evolution with the interests of its users, transforming the stablecoin from a corporate product into a piece of public financial infrastructure. ^[15]

Token Launch

The native token of the ecosystem, STBL, had its token generation event on September 16, 2025. ^[24] The launch followed a pre-seed funding round led by Wave Digital Assets, a digital asset manager. ^{[24] [22]}

Upon its debut, the STBL token was listed on several major exchanges, including Binance Alpha, Kraken, and MEXC. ^{[22] [23]} The token experienced significant price movement shortly after launching, rallying over 200% from an initial price under $0.03 to reach a market capitalization of over $50 million. ^[22] Other reports noted a rally of up to 300%, with the price reaching $0.17. ^[23] The token is considered a low-float asset, with an initial circulation of 500,000 tokens from a total supply of 10 billion. ^[23]

The project's roadmap includes several phases following the token launch. These phases are planned to introduce a governance framework for token holders, build a bridge for USST to enable interoperability across multiple networks, and implement staking mechanisms to provide yield opportunities. ^[24]

Other Ventures and Roles

In May 2025, Collins, along with an affiliate of CC Capital, purchased sponsor interests in the SPAC M3-Brigade Acquisition V Corp. Collins was named chief executive officer of the company, which intends to seek a business combination with a target in the digital assets industry and plans to change its name to CCRC Digital Assets Corp. ^[19]

The following month, in June 2025, Collins was appointed to the advisory board of Fineqia International Inc., a Canadian-listed company specializing in crypto Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs). In this role, Collins provides his expertise to support Fineqia's mission of advancing regulated crypto ETPs across Europe. ^[20][21]