Former Citadel Engineers Raise $17 Million to Launch Fin, Tackling Slow and Expensive Global Payments with Stablecoins

Former Citadel Engineers Launch Fin To Revolutionise High-Value Cross-Border Payments

Sending large sums of money internationally remains slow and expensive, even in 2025, but two former Citadel engineers aim to change that.

Ian Krotinsky and Aashiq Dheeraj have raised 17 million dollars to launch Fin, a stablecoin-powered payments app designed for high-value cross-border transactions.

Previously known as TipLink, the startup plans to pilot the app within the next month, focusing on businesses in the import-export sector that often transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time.

Co-founders of Fin, Ian Krotinsky and Aashiq Dheeraj

How Does Fin Aim To Transform International Payments

Fin leverages stablecoin rails to enable fast, cost-effective transfers to bank accounts, crypto wallets, and other payment apps.

Traditional services like Venmo or Zelle cannot instantly process large payments, but Fin is built specifically for sums in the hundreds of thousands or even millions.

Krotinsky illustrated this with a practical example: a watch dealer in Switzerland sending money to a buyer in the US would typically rely on a bank transfer that could take days and involve high fees.

Krotinsky told Fortune,

“We’re building an app that takes advantage of all the benefits of stablecoins without all the complexity, and it’s going to work anywhere in the world.”

The company plans to generate revenue from transaction fees, kept below traditional banking costs, and from interest earned on stablecoin balances held in user wallets.

The platform’s simplicity and user-friendly interface offer three main options: send or receive money to another Fin user, a bank account, or a crypto wallet.

Why Solana Powers The Fin Platform

Fin is built on Solana’s blockchain infrastructure, chosen for its speed and low transaction costs.

The founders believe this allows stablecoin payments to compete with traditional banking networks, providing faster and cheaper alternatives to international wire transfers.

Pantera Capital led the 17 million dollar Series A funding round, with support from Sequoia and Samsung Next, signalling confidence in the startup’s Solana-based model.

Krotinsky and Dheeraj plan to use the funding to expand their team and accelerate product development.

The Origins Of Fin

The idea for Fin traces back to Krotinsky and Dheeraj’s time at Citadel, when they experimented with side projects, including a version of Reddit that rewarded users who reached the front page.

Krotinsky recalled,

“That’s when we learned that sending money to people around the world was surprisingly difficult.”

This challenge inspired the creation of Fin, aiming to make global money transfers instantaneous and affordable, even for high-value transactions.

Stablecoins Gain Mainstream Momentum

Fin’s launch comes as stablecoins gain traction among banks and payments companies in the wake of the GENIUS Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in July 2025.

Since then, major institutions have expanded into stablecoin-based services.

JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup have signalled ambitions to issue their own stablecoins, while Western Union is piloting a stablecoin settlement system for its global remittance network.

Visa has also added support for multiple stablecoins across different blockchains, reflecting strong growth in this segment.

Who Is Fin Competing With

Krotinsky sees Fin challenging traditional banks like JPMorgan Chase and Barclays, which have long dominated international transfers.

He argues that legacy institutions have struggled to modernise their systems for fast, blockchain-based payments.

He said,

“I think we have the opportunity of being the next largest payments app in the world. People are going to be surprised at how quickly we move to get there.”

Fin is positioning itself at the intersection of stablecoins and high-value cross-border payments, aiming to offer speed, simplicity, and affordability in a space long dominated by slow and expensive banking systems.