The financial technology industry has spent years trying to make payments faster, easier, and more accessible. For Sam Thapaliya, founder of Zebec Network, that challenge became the foundation for a company focused on real-time payroll and programmable payments.
Born on June 28, 1998, in Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal, Thapaliya grew up in a farming household during a period of political and economic uncertainty. His early experience with technology was limited. He has recalled that he did not see a computer until he was around 13 years old.
Years later, he would find himself building financial technology designed for users around the world.
From Nepal to Silicon Valley
After completing high school, Thapaliya moved to California to study technology and programming at Menlo College. His move placed him close to Silicon Valley and introduced him to a startup environment built around fast product development, venture capital, and entrepreneurship.
Before entering blockchain, Thapaliya co-founded ASMI, an artificial intelligence and video analytics startup. His early entrepreneurial work earned him Menlo College’s Entrepreneur of the Year recognition in 2020.
The following year, he founded what was initially known as Zebec Protocol.
Launched in 2021 on the Solana blockchain, Zebec started with an idea that challenged the traditional payroll cycle: why should workers wait days or weeks to receive money they have already earned?
Making Money Move in Real Time
Traditional payroll systems normally process wages in scheduled batches. Employees may work throughout the week but receive their earnings only on a fixed payday.
Zebec was designed around a different model.
Its continuous settlement technology allows payments to move over time instead of waiting for a scheduled transaction. Thapaliya has often described the concept as “money streaming.”
“We’ve all heard of music streaming, but what about money streaming?” he said while explaining the company’s early vision.
The idea can apply to several financial situations. Employees could receive wages as they earn them. Artists could receive royalties continuously. Customers could pay for subscriptions based on actual usage rather than through a single monthly payment.
This model helped Zebec move beyond the idea of being simply another cryptocurrency project. Its broader goal became building financial infrastructure connecting blockchain-based settlement with real-world payroll and payment systems.
Moving Toward Institutional Finance
As Zebec developed, its focus expanded into payroll services, treasury management, payment infrastructure, and blockchain-based financial applications.
A major part of that expansion has involved making blockchain technology compatible with existing financial systems.
Zebec reported completing work toward ISO 20022 alignment, the financial messaging standard used across major banking and payment networks. The company also integrated with NatPay, a payroll and ACH payments provider that processes more than $158 billion in annual transaction volume.
The integration was designed to allow employers to use traditional ACH payments alongside Zebec’s real-time blockchain settlement technology.
Zebec also became a member of the Nacha Payments Innovation Alliance in 2026. Nacha oversees the rules governing the U.S. Automated Clearing House network, making the relationship an important step toward connecting blockchain infrastructure with established payment systems.
For a company that started inside Web3, these developments point toward a much broader fintech strategy.
Personal Experience Behind the Product
Thapaliya has repeatedly linked Zebec’s mission to his upbringing in Nepal.
“I never saw a bank or computer until I was 13 years old, and now I am helping to create a new generation of financial services products for the masses,” he said in an interview.
That background has influenced his view that financial technology should solve practical problems rather than exist only as a technical experiment.
One of those problems is payment delay.
For salaried workers, freelancers, creators, and gig-economy participants, faster access to earned money can reduce the gap between completing work and being able to use the income generated from it.
Building for the Next Stage of Fintech
The blockchain industry has often been associated with rapid launches, speculation, and experimentation. Zebec’s development shows another possible direction: combining blockchain-based settlement with the compliance, security, and interoperability requirements of traditional financial infrastructure.
Thapaliya has also encouraged founders entering Web3 to think beyond technology alone. In his view, products need strong communities, practical use cases, and long-term ecosystems to succeed.
As traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure continue moving closer together, companies such as Zebec Network are testing how programmable payments can work alongside established financial systems.
For Sam Thapaliya, the journey from Chitwan to California has developed into something larger than a startup story. It is now a continuing effort to rethink how payroll and payments can move in a financial system where money may no longer need to wait.
For more information, visit Sam Thapaliya’s WikiPartner profile or follow him on his official social media channels. To learn more about Zebec Network, visit the company’s official website and social media channels.
