Former Citadel Trader Launches Stablecoin Payment App, Raises $17 Million to Take on Big Banks

[Crypto World] Former Citadel traders Ian Krotinsky and Aashiq Dheeraj have launched a stablecoin payment tool called Fin (previously TipLink), and they’ve just raised $17 million. The round was led by Pantera Capital, with Sequoia and Samsung Next also participating.

This app is specifically designed for large cross-border transfers—ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. The features are pretty straightforward: person-to-person transfers, transfers to bank accounts, or directly to crypto wallets. By using stablecoin rails, the fees are lower than traditional banks, and settlements are faster.

The product hasn’t officially launched yet; next month, they’re planning to run a pilot with a few import-export companies. The business model is simple: charge transaction fees and earn interest from stablecoin wallets.

Krotinsky is pretty upfront about it—their competitors are big international banks like JPMorgan and Barclays. Their goal is to become one of the world’s largest payment apps—which sounds quite ambitious.

Honestly, the stablecoin payments space is crowded right now, but there’s still room when it comes to large B2B transfers. Whether they can take business away from traditional banks will depend on product experience and compliance capabilities. After all, when dealing with million-dollar transactions, clients care not just about lower fees and speed, but also about security and reliability.