About Expertise Patents Ventures Journey Contact
ADVISORY & TECHNOLOGY

Chandra Balasubramanian

Building the infrastructure where payments, distributed ledgers, and artificial intelligence converge.

50+ Global Patents
$300M Exit to Visa
200+ Countries Served
25+ Years in Fintech
Get in Touch Explore Expertise
SCROLL
01 About

Architect of global
payment infrastructure

Co-founded CardinalCommerce in 1999 and built it into the world's largest payment authentication platform — processing transactions across 200+ countries, 6 continents, and 180+ currencies.

After the $300M acquisition by Visa in 2017, continued leading technology, operations, and cybersecurity. Now building the next generation of payment rails — where stablecoin settlement, AI compliance engines, and distributed ledger technology replace the legacy infrastructure I spent two decades mastering.

Technologist
Security Architect
DLT Builder
AI Innovator
Founder
Chandra Balasubramanian
Building
profile.json 
{
  "name": "Chandra Balasubramanian",
  "entity": "CBA LLC",
  "focus": [
    "Payment Infrastructure",
    "Distributed Ledger Tech",
    "Artificial Intelligence",
    "Cybersecurity"
  ],
  "patents": 50,
  "exits": [{
    "company": "CardinalCommerce",
    "acquirer": "Visa Inc.",
    "value": "$300M",
    "year": 2017
  }],
  "status": "building"
}
02 Expertise

Four pillars of
deep domain expertise

Payments & Authentication

Built the world's largest 3-D Secure payment authentication network. Pioneer of card-not-present transaction security, EMVCo technical associate, and architect of systems processing billions in transaction volume.

3-D Secure EMVCo CNP Auth Tokenization

Distributed Ledger Technology

Designing and building production DLT infrastructure on Hedera Hashgraph. USDC stablecoin settlement rails, EVM-native smart contracts, and T+0 real-time clearing systems for healthcare payments.

Hedera USDC Smart Contracts T+0 Settlement

Artificial Intelligence

AI-driven compliance engines for healthcare (FHIR, CPT/ICD auto-coding), real-time fraud scoring, intelligent transaction routing, and automated substantiation for HSA/FSA payments.

FHIR Compliance Fraud Scoring Auto-coding ML Routing

Cybersecurity

Led cybersecurity operations for Visa's CardinalCommerce division. Deep expertise in payment data encryption, identity authentication, risk-based decisioning, and secure order management systems.

Encryption Identity Auth Risk Scoring PCI DSS
03 Innovation

50+ patents across
payment technology

A portfolio spanning payment authentication, mobile commerce, identity verification, secure encryption, and intelligent routing — protecting foundational innovations in digital payments.

US 7,051,002 B2
Universal Merchant Platform for Payment Authentication
2006 USPTO
US 7,606,771 B2
Dynamic Number Authentication for Credit/Debit Cards
2009 USPTO
US 7,877,296 B2
Extending Payment Architectures to Mobile Commerce via Text
2011 USPTO
US 8,676,694 B2
Secure and Efficient Payment Processing System
2014 USPTO
EP 1,552,447 B1
Universal Merchant Platform — European Grant
2017 EPO
CA 2,402,382 A1
Centralized Identity Authentication for Communication Networks
2001 CIPO

Patent Domains

Payment Authentication
18+
Mobile Commerce
10+
Identity & Encryption
8+
Transaction Routing
7+
Fraud Prevention
5+
04 Ventures

From founding to exit
and building again

ACQUIRED BY VISA — 2017

CardinalCommerce

Co-Founder, EVP & CTO

Co-founded in 1999. Built it into the world's largest payment authentication platform — operating across 200+ countries, 6 continents, 180+ currencies. Acquired by Visa for $300M in February 2017.

$300MAcquisition
200+Countries
180+Currencies
18 yrsBuilt Over
ACTIVE — BUILDING

Howlite

CTO & Co-Founder

The Unaffiliated Payment Network. Intelligent routing of HSA/FSA payments with $0.15 flat fees, AI-driven FHIR compliance, and T+0 USDC settlement on Hedera Hashgraph.

$200B+Target Market
70M+Cardholders
$0.15Flat Fee
T+0Settlement
ACTIVE — INVESTING

Gammite Ventures

Investment Team

Early-stage and growth equity firm. Portfolio includes investments in fintech, edtech, quantum AI, and SaaS. Notable prior exits: CardinalCommerce (Visa), Xoom (PayPal), Eventbrite (IPO).

3Major Exits
MultiSector Focus
05 Journey

Three decades across
four countries

1993

Chennai, India — Where It Began

Started as a developer at Innovation Software in Chennai, building the foundational engineering skills that would underpin a career in financial technology.

1994

Singapore — Systems Design

Moved to Singapore as a Design Analyst at the Management Development Institute of Singapore, architecting student administration systems.

1995

Kuala Lumpur — Online Banking Pioneer

Joined Hong Leong Bank Berhad in Malaysia, building online banking systems — an early window into the digital transformation of financial services across Southeast Asia.

1997

United States — Web Consulting

Arrived in the U.S. as a Division Manager at QIS/LiveTechSolutions — web development field-consultant and online training, bridging international experience with the American tech landscape.

1999

CardinalCommerce Founded

Co-founded CardinalCommerce in Mentor, Ohio with Tim Sherwin and Michael Keresman III. Vision: make every online transaction authenticated and secure.

2003

Universal Merchant Platform Patent Filed

Filed foundational patent for the Universal Merchant Platform (Centinel) — the architecture that would become the backbone of global 3-D Secure authentication.

2006

Mobile Commerce Innovation

Pioneered extending payment architectures to mobile commerce via text messaging — years ahead of the mobile payments wave.

2015

50+ Patents, Global Reach

CardinalCommerce's IP portfolio surpasses 50 issued patents with 100+ pending. Platform operating in 200+ countries across 6 continents.

2017

Visa Acquires CardinalCommerce

$300M acquisition by Visa. Continued as CTO leading technology, operations, and cybersecurity for the division.

2022+

New Chapter: DLT, AI & Next-Gen Payments

Launched CBA LLC. Joined Gammite Ventures investment team. Co-founded Howlite — applying lessons from two decades in payments to build the unaffiliated payment network on Hedera.

06 Contact

Let's build the future
of payments together

Whether you're exploring payment infrastructure, DLT integration, AI-driven compliance, or looking for strategic advisory — let's connect.

LinkedIn Email