Blockchain as Infrastructure: Rethinking How Systems Are Built

Over the years, I’ve experienced and now I am fully convinced that every time fintech feels “solved,” something revolutionary comes along and reminds us—we’re just getting started.

When I was building platforms like TReDS and ITFS, the goal was audacious: digitize the legacy, formalize the informal, and shine a light on what had long stayed opaque. These weren’t just products—they were systems-level challenges wrapped in policy, trust, and a fair bit of chaos. It was equal parts thrill and trial, and it taught me not just how systems work, but how they gracefully (and sometimes not-so-gracefully) don’t.

But lately, my curiosity has found new roads. (If you’ve read my piece on curiosity, a constant companion in my product journey, you won’t be surprised.) It started with a few whitepapers and spiraled—into late-night sketches of product flows involving blockchains.

Not coins. Not hype. But blockchain as infrastructure.

And the more I explore, the more convinced I am: we’re not just upgrading technology—we’re shifting the entire mental model of trust, interoperability, and financial design.

The Trust Problem Is a System Problem

Finance has always run on trust—of institutions, auditors, regulators.

In the blockchain world, that trust is algorithmic, distributed, and cryptographically enforced.

This isn’t about eliminating institutions. It’s about designing systems where trust is encoded—not assumed.

• Smart contracts don’t erase rules. They relocate them.

• Accountability isn’t a dashboard; it’s a protocol.

• Compliance becomes programmable.

Tokens Are Interfaces, Not Just Assets

At their core, tokens are digital representations of value or rights that live on a blockchain. They’re trackable, transferable, and programmable. While they’re often seen as crypto assets, that’s just one expression of what they can do.

Tokens can serve as interfaces—representing:

• Ownership (like equity or real estate)

• Access (like subscriptions or memberships)

• Compliance (like KYC logic embedded in how they move)

Imagine verifying your identity once and carrying that proof with you, securely, across platforms. No repeated KYC loops—just smooth, trusted onboarding.

Tokens, then, aren’t just digital things to be bought or sold. They’re containers for intent, trust, and financial logic.

Composability: Where Products Become Platforms

APIs in the traditional world? Necessary, brittle, partner-dependent.

Composability in blockchain? Native. Trustless. Designed to interconnect.

DeFi shows us what’s possible: A lending app can pull real-time price data from another service on the blockchain—without having to build that feature itself, or a payments app using a stablecoin issued elsewhere. Interfaces aggregating dozens of backend services seamlessly.

This is infrastructure that is not just efficient—it’s liberating.

Replacing Rails, Not Banks

I don’t believe in “blockchain will replace banks.” It won’t. But it will rethink the plumbing.

• Cross-border payments with fewer intermediaries

• Trade finance with tokenized contracts and conditional logic

• CBDCs and stablecoins as programmable fiat rails

Santander and DBS Bank are using RippleNet and token services to simplify international payments.

Fnality International , backed by banks like HSBC and UBS , is building blockchain-based payment networks using tokenized central bank money

Just like UPI didn’t replace banks—but rearmed them—blockchain could do the same. 

Especially in underserved or over-intermediated corridors of finance

But Wait—How Does Blockchain Actually Work?

If you’ve made it this far and are still wondering, “Okay, but how does blockchain really work?”—you’re not alone. The buzzwords can feel like a fog machine, but the underlying system is beautifully straightforward (and surprisingly elegant, once you peek under the hood).

At its core, blockchain is a distributed ledger—a shared record of transactions that isn’t owned or controlled by a single authority. Instead of a central database sitting inside one bank or one server, blockchain data lives across a network of computers (called nodes) that all hold and agree on the same version of the truth.

To make sure everyone’s version matches, blockchain uses consensus mechanisms—rules that nodes follow to validate transactions. Think of it as group agreement: nothing gets added unless the majority agrees it's legitimate.

Add to that,

• Cryptography, which keeps data secure and tamper-proof,

• And immutability, meaning once a transaction is added, it can’t be changed or deleted

and you’ve got a system where trust is built into the design, not manually enforced later.

Let’s look at 2 of my favorite use cases to understand better - supply chain management and cross border payments 

Supply Chain: Walmart + IBM Food Trust

Sometimes the best use cases aren’t flashy. They’re found in the fresh produce aisle.

In 2018, Walmart began using IBM’s Food Trust blockchain platform to trace the journey of food across its supply chain—think mangoes, spinach, and packaged meat. For a retailer of that scale, knowing where something came from isn’t just about logistics—it’s about food safety, accountability, and operational trust.

How customers benefit:

If there’s ever a contamination issue, Walmart can now trace the exact source of the product in 2.2 seconds—a task that used to take nearly a week. That means faster recalls, less risk, and more transparency for everyone from suppliers to shoppers.

How it works under the hood:

• Immutability: Every transaction—harvesting, packing, shipping, even a barcode scan—is logged as a block. Once it’s on the chain, it’s there for good. No edits. No convenient omissions.

• Cryptography: Each record is digitally signed. Only verified players—like registered suppliers and logistics partners—can contribute. Tampering? Not so easy anymore.

• Decentralization: Instead of one company holding all the data, the ledger is shared across a trusted network—farmers, warehouses, distributors, and Walmart itself. Everyone’s looking at the same, verified version of the truth.

Product insight: What used to be a “we’ll get back to you in a week” situation is now an almost instant lookup. For a platform product person like me, that’s infrastructure working quietly, but powerfully, in the background.

Cross-Border Payments: PayPal + Blockchain

Cross-border payments have traditionally been a tangle of delays, fees, and invisible intermediaries. Whether you're a freelancer in Vietnam or a small business in Mexico, receiving payments from overseas has often meant waiting days, paying high fees, and wondering where your money is along the way.

In 2021, PayPal began integrating blockchain into its payment infrastructure—starting with support for stablecoins, and moving toward on-chain settlement for select transactions.

How customers benefit:

Imagine a merchant in the Philippines who sells on a U.S.-based platform. In the legacy system, their payment moves through 3–5 intermediaries: local banks, international wires, FX conversions—each taking a cut, adding a delay, or both.

With PayPal’s blockchain integration:

• The payment can be settled using stablecoins, which are digital currencies pegged to fiat (like the U.S. dollar).

• Transfers are near-instant—even across time zones and banking holidays.

• Both sender and recipient can track the transaction in real time, reducing anxiety and improving transparency.

For customers, this means faster access to funds, lower costs, and fewer unknowns in the process.

How it works under the hood:

• Immutability: Every transaction—initiation, confirmation, settlement—is logged on a blockchain. Once recorded, it can’t be altered or deleted. That means no disputes over timing, and a clear audit trail for compliance or dispute resolution.

• Cryptography: Each transaction is encrypted and signed, ensuring that only authorized parties can access or approve it. This replaces the old layers of manual verification (bank approval, reconciliation teams, etc.) with built-in security logic.

• Decentralization: Transactions move across a shared blockchain ledger—accessible by PayPal and its partners (stablecoin issuers, blockchain infra providers, wallet providers or custodians, merchants or platforms, users with verified paypal accounts). Everyone operates from the same version of the truth, reducing mismatches and delays. These partners aren’t intermediaries in the same way that correspondent banks are—they don’t hold or delay funds; they facilitate the movement of tokenized value via smart contracts and verifiable on-chain transactions.

Banks still play a key role when: Funds are converted to or from fiat, Local currency payouts are needed, Compliance and KYC rules apply

Product Insight: By embedding blockchain, PayPal isn’t reinventing the user interface—it’s rewriting the rails. And in doing so, it’s making global money movement more transparent, efficient, and resilient—especially for small businesses that rely on predictable, fast settlement to stay afloat.

And Why This Matters (To Me)

I’ve built products that live in regulated, high-stakes environments. I’ve mapped flows across banks, NBFCs, startups and spreadsheets.

And I have experienced, Infrastructure isn’t neutral. The design choices ripple outward and affect real people, especially those on the margins of formality or scale.

What if we could rebuild these systems differently? What if we could bake fairness, transparency, and inclusion into the infrastructure layer itself?

So yes, I’m spending my time reading about consensus mechanisms (PoS, PoW, the great Layer 2 arms race). Not because I’m a developer. But because I’m a builder—of systems, flows, and future-facing platforms. And because designing for what comes next has always been more energizing than optimizing what already works.

And if that future includes more seamless, intelligent, borderless finance, well, even better.