×
PAYY
Private-by-default stablecoin payments network on zero-knowledge Ethereum L2
Last verified August 18, 2026 · Updated daily
What PAYY is building
Sending a stablecoin payment today is like posting your bank statement on a public website. Every amount, every recipient, every balance is visible to anyone with a blockchain explorer. Payy is building the privacy layer that fixes this. The Payy Network is an Ethereum Layer 2 rollup that uses zero-knowledge proofs to shield transaction details by default: sender, receiver, amount, and asset type are all hidden while the transaction still settles on-chain. The stack is vertically integrated: a self-custodial wallet, the Payy Network, and a Visa card that lets users spend USDC anywhere Visa is accepted while keeping on-chain activity fully private. The product is live. The wallet launched in January 2024, the Visa card in August 2025, and the Payy Network testnet is incoming, with mainnet planned for this summer. Over 100,000 users across 120 countries are already on the platform, moving $130M in annualized volume. One important technical note: Payy did not build on EVM. Sid Gandhi has been explicit about this in interviews, saying EVM-compatible chains are not suitable for private payments. Payy built its blockchain from scratch with privacy as a first-principles constraint, not a bolt-on. The analogy he uses is Zcash, Monero, and Aztec, but with regulatory compliance baked in from the start, including AML infrastructure that operates inside the privacy network rather than bypassing it.
Why this matters
Stablecoins are approaching $300B in market cap and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has projected the market growing to $3.7T by 2030. Every serious enterprise payment use case that is being piloted right now hits the same wall: no CFO will route meaningful payment flows through a system where every transaction is permanently public. That single fact has prevented stablecoins from graduating from crypto-native speculation into institutional payment infrastructure. Payy is building the privacy primitive that removes that blocker. FirstMark Capital's framing is pointed: they are an early backer of Airbnb, Shopify, and Pinterest, not a crypto-specialist fund. Their investment is a bet that stablecoin payments become mainstream internet financial infrastructure, and that privacy is the missing piece before enterprises commit. The pre-seed investors include Robert Leshner's Robot Ventures, a fund specifically focused on DeFi infrastructure. Leshner's quote at the Visa card launch was unambiguous: 'Payy finally built a real alternative to consumer banking. You can now save and spend self-custodied stablecoins privately without ever knowing they're on a blockchain.' Coming from the founder of Compound Finance, that is not casual praise.
Open roles at PAYY
2 positions we're tracking. Roles are re-checked daily and removed when filled.
Know when PAYY is hiring before anyone else
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window — and where we put you in it.
From $9/month, cancel any time.
Watching PAYY
0 applicantsRole spotted & verified
1You get the alert
1You've applied
~8Hits the job boards
250+Hiring outlook
Very High. CEO explicitly named business development and engineering as the two expansion vectors post-raise. Two roles live right now on polybaselabs.com/careers: Senior Rust Engineer and Hacker / Ex-Founder Engineer. Both remote-eligible given the team's distributed history.
Working at PAYY
PAYY: Private-by-default stablecoin payments network on zero-knowledge Ethereum L2. Founded , currently <50 employees. At this stage, expect broad remit, direct access to founders, and equity that still means something if the company works out.
Most PAYY jobs are based in New York.
How to actually get hired at PAYY
Why applying the normal way doesn't work
At this size (<50 people), PAYY has no recruiting function. Founders handle hiring alongside everything else. Reach them directly or get lost in the inbox.
Who to contact at PAYY
Founding team
Sid is one of the more technically credible consumer privacy advocates in crypto, which is a combination that's rarer than it sounds. He spent his formative engineering years at Apple, specifically on iOS privacy products, and also worked at Cruise, the Waymo competitor, before pivoting into web3. Those two environments, Apple's consumer product culture and Cruise's high-stakes systems engineering culture, are visible in how Payy is built: a custom chain built from first principles for privacy, but wrapped in a product experience that is explicitly designed to be usable by people who have never touched crypto. He has been blunt in public about his motivations in ways that most founders aren't: 'Either I'm crazy or everyone else is crazy, because you just can't build a financial system without the core pillar of confidentiality.' He has given interviews to CoinDesk, The Block, and The Rollup, and maintains an active presence on X. The Payy card also features an embedded OLED screen powered by NFC energy harvesting, which is either the most extra hardware flex in DeFi or genuine product vision, depending on your perspective.
Calum is the quieter but deeply experienced engineering half of the founding pair, and his background is notably non-linear. He studied Management Studies (not computer science) at the University of Sheffield, then spent time at Accenture as a consultant and analyst, then at Virgin Media as a technical project manager, before pivoting into building. His first company was Zeplo, a webhook queuing service that he built and which became the legal incorporation vehicle for Polybase Labs (the company is still incorporated as Zeplo Inc.). His second was Snapboard, a no-code internal tools platform he took through YC Winter 2020 as a solo founder, described by TechCrunch as 'Airtable, but with all of your data already in there.' Snapboard was itself born from a 'build one product a week for a year' personal challenge, which says something about how he operates. He brought that same systematic, builder-first approach to Polybase, co-authoring the technical architecture for a custom ZK rollup chain with no prior blockchain infrastructure experience in his background. The pivot from no-code tools to ZK cryptography is unusual enough that it's worth asking about directly.
What to show them
The Payy Network is a custom ZK rollup built from scratch outside of EVM. That is serious systems engineering territory. Rust is the language of choice for the core protocol work, which aligns with the broader ZK infrastructure stack where Rust dominates (Risc Zero, Aztec, StarkWare all use Rust extensively). This role is likely touching the core networking, proof generation, or settlement layer of the protocol ahead of mainnet. Core skills: Rust, zero-knowledge proof systems (Plonky2, Halo2, Groth16 or similar), EVM-adjacent or custom blockchain development, cryptographic primitives, systems programming, performance-critical distributed systems. Proof of work: Write a brief technical explainer (500 words or a GitHub gist) on one design tradeoff you'd make when building a ZK-proof settlement layer for private stablecoin transactions, specifically around the tension between proof generation speed and privacy guarantees. Send it to hello@polybase.xyz. It directly engages the engineering problem Payy is solving and shows you've read the whitepaper at docs.payy.network.
A cold email that works at PAYY
What PAYY screens for
The CEO told The Block directly: Payy "plans to hire across business development and engineering roles." That is not boilerplate. The company has 12 people and is heading into a mainnet launch, an enterprise sales push into financial institutions and fintech platforms, and the onboarding of a dozen design partners already building on testnet. Two engineering roles are live on the careers page at polybaselabs.com/careers. The Rust Engineer role signals that the core protocol and networking layers are being built or rebuilt in Rust, which is standard for high-performance ZK infrastructure. The Hacker / Ex-Founder Engineer role is the more distinctive signal: they are specifically looking for someone with a founder background, not just a strong engineer. That role title is a direct statement of culture and operating expectation. At 12 people heading into a mainnet launch, every hire needs to make decisions autonomously and ship without a lot of oversight.
Don't send a generic CV to PAYY. Mirror the job posting's language to get past automated screening.
Don't make these mistakes
Sending a generic crypto enthusiast email. Sid has been very specific in every interview about what the problem is and why existing privacy solutions fail to solve it. He is dismissive of anything that doesn't take compliance seriously alongside privacy. If you haven't read the Payy Network whitepaper at docs.payy.network, don't reach out yet. The Hacker Engineer role specifically says 'ex-founder,' so if you have built something, lead with that, don't bury it in the third paragraph.
Mistakes that kill PAYY applications
At <50 people, a copy-paste CV is immediately obvious. It's an instant no.
Lead with their problem, not your ambition. PAYY is focused on Stablecoins are approaching $300B in market cap and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has projected the market growing to $3 — show you understand that.
Don't apply and wait. The median Fintech application gets no response ever. One follow-up at day five roughly doubles reply rates.
Applying to PAYY? Get the contact, not the form.
The PAYY interview process
3 stages · 7 days typical · take-home: no · modelled from similar companies
We don't yet have verified candidate reports for PAYY. What follows is the typical process for a <50-person Fintech company — treat it as a model, not confirmed detail.
Interview stages
Intro Call
Video call · 30 min
Culture fit and role expectations
Founder or hiring manager
Technical Deep Dive
Video call or in-person · 60 min
Past projects and problem-solving approach
Technical founder or lead
Final Round
In-person or video · 45 min
Team fit and offer discussion
Founding team
PAYY interview timeline
At days, PAYY's process is faster than typical for Fintech (10 days at this size).
Interviewed at PAYY?
Tell us how it went — stages, questions, timeline. Takes 90 seconds and it's how this page stays accurate for the next person.
Submit your PAYY interview experience →PAYY jobs, frequently asked questions
How many jobs does PAYY have open?
PAYY currently has 2 open roles, last verified March 2026.
Does PAYY hire remotely?
All current PAYY roles are based in New York.
What roles is PAYY hiring for?
PAYY is hiring across Engineering. The most recent opening is Senior Rust Engineer.
How do I apply for a job at PAYY?
Apply directly through the links above, or read our guide on how to actually get hired at PAYY.
Does PAYY respond to cold emails?
We're still collecting cold email data for PAYY.
Who is the hiring manager at PAYY?
At this size, hiring is usually run by a founder or department head.
How competitive is it to get hired at PAYY?
<50-person Fintech companies see ~50-100 applicants per role in two weeks. The 72-hour window is your advantage.
How many rounds is the PAYY interview?
3 stages: Intro Call, Technical Deep Dive, Final Round.
Is the PAYY interview hard?
It concentrates on relevant experience and culture fit rather than abstract puzzles. The stage candidates find hardest is Final Round.
Does PAYY give a take-home task?
No, PAYY does not include a take-home stage.
How long does PAYY take to get back to you?
Around 7 days across the full process.
What should I prepare for the PAYY interview?
Study relevant experience and culture fit. At this size (<50), they care about self-sufficiency over textbook knowledge.
Where is PAYY based?
PAYY is headquartered in New York, US.
Get PAYY roles before they're posted
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window — and where we put you in it.
From $9/month, cancel any time.
Watching PAYY
0 applicantsRole spotted & verified
1You get the alert
1You've applied
~8Hits the job boards
250+