Founder Profile
Raphael Nicolle
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Raphael Nicolle?
Raphael Nicolle is a founder of Bitfinex, which was founded in 2012 with Giancarlo Devasini.
- Company founded
- Bitfinex
- Founded
- 2012
- Co-founders
- Giancarlo Devasini
Background
An IT technician from Paris who was active in early bitcoin communities and focused on lending and margin trading.
Founding Story
Raphael Nicolle launched Bitfinex in December 2012 as a peer-to-peer bitcoin lending platform, drawing on Bitcoinica, an earlier margin-trading site. He built the first versions of the exchange and lending engine, then handed management to JL van der Velde and Giancarlo Devasini while continuing as a developer until early 2017. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Sources
This profile does not yet cite a source specific to Raphael Nicolle. The sources below document the company company rather than the person, so check them against the claims above.
- Bitfinex (Wikipedia) (Bitfinex)
- 2016 Bitfinex hack (Wikipedia) (Bitfinex)