Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
Original title: Pantera, Sequoia, and Samsung Jointly Bet, Is FIN Going to Steal Traditional Banks' Business?
In the current global financial system, large cross-border transfers still suffer from "slow settlement, high fees, and cumbersome processes." A startup named FIN is tackling this pain point head-on by leveraging stablecoins, aiming to rewrite the industry's status quo.
Founded by two former Citadel employees, FIN is not just making small moves on the periphery. Instead, it is building a large payment rail using stablecoin technology, dedicated to providing instant and efficient cross-border transfer experiences for businesses and high-net-worth individuals.
In early December 2025, FIN announced the completion of a $17 million funding round, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Sequoia and Samsung Next. The capital recognition highlights the potential of its track.
So, what exactly is FIN? What is its background? And how will it operate and land in the future? This article will take you through it.
FIN's Core Positioning
Many people's first impression of this team comes from its predecessor, TipLink—a lightweight tool that supports encrypted asset transfers via URL links, supporting the Solana network with zero fees.
But the rebranded FIN has upgraded its goal to "challenge traditional banks' global payment App," focusing on meeting the large transfer needs of users and businesses for millions of dollars. It supports diverse scenarios such as transfers to other FIN users, direct deposits into bank accounts, or circulation through cryptocurrency channels.
FIN CEO Ian Krotinsky made it clear in an interview with Fortune magazine that the company's core goal is to build "the payment app of the future": fully leveraging the technical advantages of stablecoins while stripping away their complex professional barriers to achieve seamless global use.
This positioning恰好 aligns with the current development trend of the stablecoin track.
Core Team: Quantitative Genes + Pain Point Driven
One of FIN's core competencies lies in the hardcore background of its founding team.
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FIN Co-founder and CEO Ian Krotinsky: Before founding the project in 2022, he worked as a quantitative portfolio manager and trader at top hedge fund Citadel from 2016 to 2022, and previously served as a programmatic trader at Goldman Sachs.
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FIN Co-founder and CTO Aashiq Dheeraj: Worked as a quantitative researcher at Citadel Securities from 2018 to 2022.
According to Fortune magazine, during their time working together at Citadel, the two often spent nights and weekends developing various hack projects, including a Reddit-like platform where users could earn a $50 reward if their posts made it to the front page. It was this experience that gave them deeply appreciate the inefficiency and high cost of traditional cross-border transfers, ultimately leading them to decide to use blockchain technology to solve this industry pain point.
According to FIN's official website, the team also have backgrounds from companies like Google, Meta, Uber, and leading US digital bank Chime.
Funding History
As early as February 2023, TipLink completed a $6 million seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Multicoin Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures, Circle Ventures, Paxos, and others.
Nearly 3 years later, on December 3, 2025, FIN announced the completion of a $17 million Series A funding round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Samsung's investment arm Samsung Next. Several industry veterans joined as angel investors, including Helius CEO Mert, Bridge CEO Zach Abrams (Stripe's stablecoin infrastructure company), Ellipsis Labs co-founder Jarry Xiao, and Tensor co-founder Richard Wu.
From TipLink to FIN: How Does the Project Operate?
As mentioned earlier, FIN's predecessor was TipLink. TipLink is a lightweight wallet, with its biggest innovation being that the link itself is a non-custodial wallet. It currently only supports the Solana network and charges no fees.
TipLink has built a mature lightweight payment ecosystem:
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Ordinary users can log in via a Web3 wallet or Google account, create a TipLink, and share it via SMS, Discord, email, or any other platform. The recipient can automatically activate the wallet by logging in with Gmail, enabling asset holding, transfer, or redistribution;
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The enterprise product TipLink Pro supports distributing token or NFT assets through a single control panel;
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The developer-oriented TipLink Wallet Adapter supports rapid integration of wallet functions, allowing users to sign transactions using only their Google account.
Although the revamped FIN has not disclosed all the details, it has clarified five core operational logics:
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Using stablecoin USDC as the foundation: FIN supports using the USDC dollar stablecoin as the settlement medium. Regarding a demo released by FIN, Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, stated that the seamless connection of USDC enterprise accounts and payments, along with the interoperability between fiat and cryptocurrency in the backend, delivers an efficient user experience.
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Focusing on "high-value transactions": Unlike TipLink's early focus on small C2C (consumer-to-consumer) transfers and many small payment apps in the market targeting C-end and retail users, FIN focuses on high-value institutional-level transactions. Use cases include asset transfers for high-net-worth individuals, import and export trade settlements, internal transfers within multinational corporations, and other scenarios.
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A hub for fiat currency and digital assets: As Jeremy Allaire said, thanks to the interoperability between fiat and cryptocurrency in the backend, users can convert fiat currency into stablecoins for cross-border transmission. The recipient can choose to keep the stablecoins or directly withdraw to a local bank account through FIN's compliant channel.
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Where does the revenue come from? According to Fortune magazine, FIN stated that its revenue will come from handling fees, but for users, these fees will be lower than other alternatives. Additionally, FIN will also generate revenue from the interest income on stablecoins held in FIN wallets.
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"De-Crypto" experience: Ian Krotinsky直言, FIN aims to leverage the advantages of stablecoins but discard their complexity. When using FIN, users do not need to understand what Gas fees are, what private keys are, or what on-chain confirmations are.
Summary
The evolution from TipLink's single-point function of "link transfer" to FIN's "payment platform" reflects the shift in the Web3 payment track from "fun" to "useful" and "commercialized".
If TipLink allowed users to experience the convenience of "sending money by sending a link," then FIN's goal is to make this convenience the daily standard for global commercial trade.
In the increasingly crowded stablecoin track, FIN,凭借 its team's quantitative genes, clear institutional-level positioning, and compatibility with traditional finance, becomes a player worth watching long-term.
FIN has revealed that it will soon launch pilot projects targeting import and export enterprises. For such companies, cross-border payment efficiency directly affects supply chain turnover efficiency, and the "instant settlement" service provided by FIN may further drive efficiency in the cross-border payment industry.
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