There’s a company processing over to $350 million in transactions that spends less on AI all year than most startups spend on it in a single month. Anton Lobintsev, co-founder of the stablecoin-based financial platform SquareFi, built it that way on purpose.
His company didn’t start as a fintech at all. It started as a platform to tokenize real estate in Georgia and Indonesia, until Anton and his co-founder realized nobody wanted to tokenize their buildings. They just wanted to accept stablecoin payments for them. So they rebuilt the whole business around that instead.
We cover:
The $500 million AI story that kicked off the “what are people doing with all these tokens?” running joke What SquareFi actually is: stablecoin custody, crypto-as-a-service, banking accounts, and cards, all under one platform Why 95% of SquareFi’s customers aren’t crypto-native businesses at all How a company with employees scattered across the world pays salaries in crypto when banks won’t touch the corridor Why venture capital firms use SquareFi to collect capital calls from LPs on three different continents From tokenizing buildings as NFTs to realizing the market wanted payments, not tokenization Why Canada, not Dubai or the Cayman Islands, became the regulatory home base How $50 million in transactions turned into roughly $300 million Why the company spends $5,000 to $7,000 a year on AI, not $50,000 The real reason companies claim to burn “$1 billion in tokens” (and why it’s probably marketing)
GUEST: Anton Lobintsev: Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of SquareFi, alongside co-founder and CEO Denis Spasibo. Serial entrepreneur since roughly 2007, having built and sold companies across telecom/internet, restaurants, and legal services before co-founding a real-estate tokenization platform that pivoted into SquareFi, a stablecoin-based financial platform now processing close to $300 million in transactions across 150+ countries.
RESOURCES & LINKS: SquareFi: https://squarefi.co
MORE OF ANTON LOBINTSEV: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lobintsev/
MORE OF SQUAREFI: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarefii/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarefi/
Telegram: https://t.me/Square_Fi
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00:00 - Cold open: the $500 million AI story and the tokens joke.
00:22 - What SquareFi is: stablecoin custody, crypto-as-a-service, cards, and banking accounts.
03:58 - Two business models, why most customers aren’t crypto companies, and the Bangladesh remittance problem.
08:43 - Getting licensed in Canada, the “umbrella license” model, and why offshore jurisdictions don’t work.
14:20 - The roadmap: UAE, EU, and Singapore licenses.
16:28 - The origin story: tokenizing buildings, meeting his co-founder, and where the name SquareFi comes from.
23:26 - Finding early customers, and today’s transaction volume: roughly $300 million.
26:24 - What to look for in a co-founder, and the painful history of past breakups.
29:38 - Radical honesty as the glue of the partnership, and staying disciplined on spending.
33:24 - What investors are really looking for: founder, traction, team.
37:52 - How AI changed Anton’s workflow as a self-taught technical founder.
42:40 - The goal: a 50-person unicorn, and his CTO’s job managing people and AI agents.
46:05 - The real number: $5,000 to $7,000 spent on AI this year, and why.
50:35 - Why licenses are only 10% of the work, and launching a stablecoin through Brale.
54:54 - Founder advice: find people who cover your weaknesses, hire freelancers, and stay transparent.
1:01:19 - Closing.
Make sure to like, comment, and share, and I’ll see you in the next one.
