Dubai · Fintech executive

Building the rails for global money movement

20+ years building payment rails, tokenization platforms and digital-asset frameworks across MENA and South Asia.

Punit Thakker · Dubai

Drongo Ventures
CBUAE Advisor
Ask Group AE
Fracxn

PayPal India Founding teamMENA QR Payment railsCBUAE Advisory councilDrongo Ventures Managing partner20+ years Fintech leadership$40B+ Transaction volume

By the numbers

Two decades of payments, measured.

Founding teams at PayPal India, Checkout.com, Telr and PayTabs — now advising central banks and funds.

20+

Years in fintech

$40B

Transaction volume

Markets led

120+

Fintech due diligences

About

From Bangalore to the MENA payment infrastructure

Engineer turned payments builder: founding team at PayPal India, QR rails across MENA, and today Executive Director for fintech & digital assets at ASK Group.

A · Payments

Payment Infrastructure

QR standards, interoperability and real-time rails across South Asia and MENA.

Countries on QR rails

B · Digital assets

Tokenization & Digital Assets

RWA tokenization, stablecoin advisory and smart-contract reviews.

Frameworks · MAS, Finma, MICA

C · Advisory

Regulatory & M&A Advisory

CBUAE, DIFC & ADGM licensing, fintech M&A and 120+ due diligences.

120+

Fintech due diligences

Expertise

What I bring to the payments ecosystem

Tap an area to read more.

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Expertise

01 / 09

Digital Payments Architecture

End-to-end payment flows — acceptance to settlement: QR, NFC, cards and real-time rails.

Track record

Built, scaled and advised across the full payments stack.

20+

Years in fintech

$40B+

Transaction volume

Markets led

120+

Fintech due diligences

50+

Talks & keynotes

The journey

Two decades across every layer of payments

From merchant APIs to central-bank advisory — two decades building, scaling and exiting payment businesses.

$2.6B

MENA Switch business built

Countries under P&L leadership

120+

Fintech due diligences led

5.5x

Revenue growth in one year

Successful fintech exit

■ Career timeline · 9 rolesHover a role · click to open

2026 — PresentCurrent
Leading fintech, blockchain, and digital asset strategy for the Office of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan — across regulatory licensing, digital asset infrastructure, and cross-border payments.
Digital Assets
Regulatory Licensing
Cross-Border
2024 — PresentCurrent
Building tokenization and lending infrastructure for banks and fintechs in MENA and beyond — alongside buy-side M&A advisory for EBRD and fintech strategy for Abu Dhabi's SME ecosystem.
Tokenization
Lending Infra
M&A Advisory
2022 — PresentCurrent
Fintech and payments advisor to investment banks, PE and VC firms on buy- and sell-side transactions, technology and pricing due diligence — 120+ fintech DDs globally, from early stage to IPO.
Pricing DD
Deal Flow
MENA Fintech
2021 — 2023
Built a web3 bank for crypto and fiat — in-house eKYC (MRZ/OCR with real-time global checks), 3-click mobile bank accounts, transfers and bill-pay super-app. Acquired by a major UK investment group in a successful exit.
Web3 Banking
eKYC
Exit ✦
2017 — 2021
P&L for 28 countries, 60-person team across 12 markets. Led 5 acquisitions with full DD, built the MENA Switch processing $2.6B with Fortune 50 merchants, and launched closed-loop QR payment rails across 13 countries.
Payment Switch
QR Rails
M&A
28 Countries
2015 — 2017
Scaled Telr India via 60+ channel partners while saving ~70% employment cost; launched MinkasuPay's fingerprint-authentication checkout with 4 top banks, replacing 3DS pages with patented PKI technology.
Founding Team
Checkout Innovation
India GTM
2013 — 2015
Led Checkout.com's India setup end-to-end — cross-border and domestic strategy, sales and relationships. Closed 70+ merchants processing $5M+, with 17+ shopping-cart and developer channel partnerships.
Market Entry
Card Acquiring
70+ Merchants
2012 — 2013
Core member of PayPal's India founding unit — consulted 80+ merchants across India, Australia, and Singapore; led the APAC "MACAU" conversion program; third-party outsourcing strategy cut integration costs 70%.
PayPal Founding Team
APAC
Integration
2009 — 2012
Where it all started — building payment system integrations and merchant APIs. Directed the full product cycle of "enTRAC" generating $13.3M in revenue, and led Enbridge Canada's "Thruput" application saving 65% in costs.
Engineering Roots
APIs
Architecture

Global footprint

Markets I've built fintech & payment infrastructure in

HQ · 25.2° N 55.3° EHeadquarters · 25.2° N 55.3° E

HQ_Dubai

Footprint

MarketsMarkets · 3 continents

QR railsCountries · closed-loop QR rails

P&L countriesCountries · under P&L leadership

AEUAE

UAE

CBUAE advisory, QR rails, DIFC & ADGM licensing

SASaudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

MENA Switch, SAMA partnerships, merchant acquiring

BHBahrain

Bahrain

PayTabs HQ, regional P&L, payment switch

IQIraq

Iraq

MENA Switch expansion, QR acceptance

JOJordan

Jordan

Cross-border corridors, merchant acquiring

OMOman

Oman

QR payment rails, closed-loop network

EGEgypt

Egypt

MENA Switch operations, cross-border rails

W3Crypto & Web3

Crypto & Web3

Finvault (acquired), Fracxn tokenization, stablecoin advisory

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Latest perspectives

Insights on payments, fintech & the future

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Regulation

Building the rails for global money movement

Two decades of payments, measured.

From Bangalore to the MENA payment infrastructure

Payment Infrastructure

Tokenization & Digital Assets

Regulatory & M&A Advisory

What I bring to the payments ecosystem

Digital Payments Architecture

Built, scaled and advised across the full payments stack.

Two decades across every layer of payments

Markets I've built fintech & payment infrastructure in

UAE

Saudi Arabia

Bahrain

Iraq

Jordan

Oman

Egypt

Crypto & Web3

Have a question about payments or fintech?

Insights on payments, fintech & the future

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