Mohamed Afifi
Mohamed Afifi is the co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of HIFI, a New York–based company that builds payment and settlement infrastructure for stablecoins and tokenized assets.[1][2]
Career
PwC
Afifi worked as a Senior Associate at PwC from 2008 to 2012 in the New York City metropolitan area, which served as a basis for later work with digital assets.
Citi
From 2012 to 2018, Afifi served as a Senior Vice President at Citi in the New York City metropolitan area.
Deloitte
From 2018 to 2020, Afifi worked as a Senior Manager at Deloitte in New York, New York, United States.
Citi
Afifi returned to Citi in 2020 as a Senior Vice President, holding the position until 2021 in New York, New York, United States.
Zip Co
From 2021 to 2022, Afifi served as a Director at Zip Co in New York, New York, United States.
HIFI
Afifi co-founded HIFI, also known as HiFi Bridge, in 2022. The financial services company is headquartered in New York, New York. He serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Senior Vice President of Enterprise Operations & Technology, with responsibilities covering enterprise operations, technology, risk assurance, and risk management.
Before establishing HIFI, Afifi reported having spent 15 years working in financial services. In April 2026, he discussed the demand among financial institutions for structured access to digital asset markets. HIFI provides application programming interfaces (APIs) for stablecoin payments, fiat currency conversion, and cross-border payouts, allowing external developers and institutions to connect their applications to these services.
Afifi's work at HIFI includes the development of services for institutional financial transactions conducted on blockchain networks, including the Canton Network, which was designed for regulated financial institutions. In April 2026, he reported that HIFI developers had gained access to private transactions on the Canton Network, supporting confidential transfers between participants.
In June 2026, HIFI collaborated with trading firms DRW and Marex on a repurchase agreement (repo) transaction executed on the Canton Network. The transaction used atomic settlement, in which the transfer between lender and borrower is completed as a single coordinated event. In July 2026, Afifi discussed the transaction in the context of conducting repo operations on a blockchain network while retaining existing market structures.
HIFI has also worked on services for tokenized capital markets, in which financial instruments are represented as digital tokens. In April 2026, Afifi referred to the development of these services alongside financial institutions.
In May 2026, Afifi outlined a product under development at HIFI intended to address financing constraints affecting card programs. He described how these programs commonly use warehouse lines of credit to finance receivables, arrangements that may involve lengthy setup processes, borrowing limits, and renegotiation when a program expands. The proposed HIFI product would represent receivables as digital assets at the time of origination and allow investor capital to be allocated programmatically against them. According to Afifi, this approach was intended to link financing capacity to the size of the receivables portfolio. At the time of his statement, HIFI was preparing the product for market and seeking early design partners.
In September 2026, Afifi described HIFI's work in the context of the digitization of money, stating, "Money is becoming software and we're building the infrastructure it runs on." [1] [2] [3] [4]
Interviews
Stablecoin Infrastructure and Adoption #01
On February 4, 2026, Mohamed Afifi participated in an episode of Quadrillions, a series published by Blockworks and featured on the Empire and Canton YouTube channel. The episode also featured Eric Sariniki, co-founder of Canton, and examined stablecoin adoption, payment infrastructure, and applications in financial services.
Afifi discussed the use of stablecoins in cross-border payments, corporate treasury operations, and decentralized finance. He described their development from instruments primarily used in cryptocurrency trading to digital assets employed in business payment processes. He also identified regulatory clarity as a factor contributing to institutional participation in the stablecoin market.
Addressing infrastructure challenges, Afifi described the fragmentation of stablecoin issuers, blockchain networks, and payment providers as an obstacle to integration. He outlined HiFi's role in connecting these components through an infrastructure layer that supports stablecoin transactions across different networks and services. The discussion also covered privacy and regulatory compliance in financial transactions, particularly for institutions requiring controlled access to transaction information.
Afifi discussed the use of stablecoins in international transfers, citing transaction speed and costs as factors in their adoption. He argued that payment companies could incorporate stablecoin infrastructure into their operations as alternative payment services develop. Corporate treasury management was another area of discussion, including the movement of funds between jurisdictions and access to tokenized treasury products.
Other applications addressed in the episode included payroll processing and payments initiated by artificial intelligence agents. Afifi also discussed potential use cases involving transfers between Japan and the United States for tokenized treasury transactions, as well as remittances from the United Arab Emirates to the Philippines. He identified interoperability, infrastructure development, and integration with existing financial services as areas relevant to the continued adoption of stablecoins. [5]
