{"version":1,"id":"zac-ler","title":"Zac Ler","summary":"Zac Ler is a Singapore-based technology entrepreneur and software engineer who co-founded Suberra and Based, serving as CTO of both companies.","content":"**Zac Ler** is the co-founder of Suberra and served as its chief technology officer from July 2021 to July 2023, after software engineering roles at RedMart and Lazada. Since July 2023, he has been co-founder and chief technology officer of [Based](https://iq.wiki/wiki/based).[\\[1\\]](#cite-id-a834qqk3n3)​[\\[2\\]](#cite-id-4dd2uj6hdm) The venture began on Terra as Suberra and later became a multi-platform wallet for trading on [Hyperliquid](https://iq.wiki/wiki/hyperliquid).[\\[3\\]](#cite-id-om1qzkihw6)​[\\[4\\]](#cite-id-qd00f3lama)​\n\n## Education and Academic Work\n\nLer earned a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from Singapore Management University (SMU), where he studied from 2013 to 2017 and was named valedictorian of the graduating class of 2017. During this period, he worked as a teaching assistant for more than five modules and served as IT director of the School of Information Systems Society. His academic distinctions covered software engineering, data management, and process modeling and solution blueprinting. In December 2015, he was included on the university’s Dean’s List, a distinction awarded to students who maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.70 across two consecutive regular terms within one academic year. In April 2015, he received the McAfee Award, designated as the School of Information Systems’ Outstanding Student in Information Security and Trust Award.\n\nBetween January and December 2015, Ler directed the IT activities of the School of Information Systems Society at SMU. He led a five-person team that developed and maintained websites and event pages and provided IT services for the student organization.\n\nHis university projects included the APEX Web Application, created and deployed from January to May 2015 for the APEX Business-IT Case Competition. The application supported competition updates, online chat, document distribution, file submissions, and voting. Another project, SLOCA, was developed between August and November 2014 to present information about SMU’s School of Information Systems building. Its features included a heat map, reports on frequently visited locations, and automatic group identification. The application was developed using Java EE 7, Apache Tomcat, the Jersey REST Framework, MySQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript libraries.\n\nLer also contributed to SyncForSG, a social-media campaign organized for Singapore’s 50th birthday. The campaign featured a lip-sync challenge and a sharing board titled “Your SG Stories.” Facebook APIs, Facebook Insights, and Google Analytics were used to monitor campaign activity. Sentiment analysis was planned as a subsequent development stage.\n\nBefore enrolling at SMU, Ler attended Ngee Ann Polytechnic from 2009 to 2011, where he completed a diploma in Network Systems and Security with merit. He ranked fourth overall in the program and received the NCS Prize for achievement in computer forensics, also described as placing at the top of his cohort in the Computer Forensic module. He additionally completed a Diploma Plus in Advanced Network Technologies.\n\nIn August 2013, Ler was selected for the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore’s Enhanced Learning in Infocomm Technology (ELITe) Talent Development Programme. The programme included industry attachments, mentorship, practical projects, and technical skills development. [\\[1\\]](#cite-id-a834qqk3n3) [\\[2\\]](#cite-id-4dd2uj6hdm) \n\n## Career\n\n#### Research and Military Service\n\nFrom August 2010 to February 2011, Zac Ler was a research intern in the Information Division at DSO National Laboratories. His work included researching secure operating systems, preparing a report on the subject, and developing a proof of concept for a minimal operating system using OpenBSD. He presented his findings to senior researchers, which served as a foundation for his later work with [digital assets](https://iq.wiki/wiki/digital-assets).\n\nFrom November 2011 to July 2013, Ler served as a section commander in the Singapore Armed Forces. He trained with the Singapore Combat Engineers’ Boat Company. In September 2012, he received the Silver Bayonet after placing second in his Boat Commander training batch, which involved six weeks of training and field deployments.\n\n#### Information Technology and Software Engineering\n\nFrom January to December 2015, Ler was IT Director at the SMU Information Systems Society. He led a team of five responsible for providing IT solutions to the student organization. His duties included developing and maintaining the society's websites and event pages.\n\nLer joined RedMart in Singapore as a software engineer in July 2017 and held the position until January 2019. He then worked at Lazada Group as a senior software engineer from January 2019 to July 2021.\n\nIn a June 2026 post, Ler discussed his experience at both companies, describing his arrival at RedMart when it operated independently.\n\n#### Suberra\n\nIn July 2021, Ler co-founded Suberra and became its chief technology officer, a position he held until July 2023. The company developed a [Web3](https://iq.wiki/wiki/web3) payments platform that used smart contracts on Terra to facilitate recurring subscriptions and scheduled [peer-to-peer](https://iq.wiki/wiki/peer-to-peer-trading-p2p) payments. Its services included automated payment execution, non-custodial transfers, merchant checkout, and application programming interfaces (APIs). His profile lists $2.7 million in funding across two rounds.\n\nSuberra initially launched on Terra. Following the network's collapse in 2022, the team shifted its focus to [Ethereum Virtual Machine](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum-virtual-machine-evm) (EVM)-compatible networks and stablecoin checkout services. In 2023, the company also explored [cryptocurrency](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) debit card products.\n\n#### Based\n\nLer co-founded [Based](https://iq.wiki/wiki/based) in July 2023 and serves as its chief technology officer. The company was founded in 2022 and is headquartered in New York City, with a distributed workforce across Singapore, Indonesia, and South Korea.\n\n​[Based](https://iq.wiki/wiki/based) initially focused on [cryptocurrency](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) spending and payment cards before expanding into a self-custodial wallet and trading interface built on [Hyperliquid](https://iq.wiki/wiki/hyperliquid). The platform supports spot and perpetual futures trading through mobile and web applications, desktop software, and Telegram. Its Visa card allows users to spend cryptocurrency, with balances converted into fiat currency when purchases are made.\n\nAn earlier version of the product combined a [smart-contract](https://iq.wiki/wiki/smart-contract) wallet with a Visa debit card. Its features included social login, transactions that did not require users to pay gas fees directly, transaction batching, and automated recurring purchases.\n\nIn August 2022, Ler described an approach that would allow users to connect personal [cryptocurrency](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) wallets, including [MetaMask](https://iq.wiki/wiki/metamask), directly to services such as ride-sharing applications. In September 2023, he announced a partnership with [StraitsX](https://iq.wiki/wiki/straitsx) concerning the use of [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) technology to expand the acceptance of [digital assets](https://iq.wiki/wiki/digital-assets).\n\nIn July 2024, Ler announced a metal Visa card with passkey authentication based on the FIDO2 standard. He described the feature as a means of providing hardware-based two-factor authentication for access to exchange accounts.\n\nIn a retrospective published on November 10, 2025, Ler discussed the project's development from its initial launch as Suberra on Terra through the transition to [EVM](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum-virtual-machine-evm)-compatible networks, [stablecoin](https://iq.wiki/wiki/stablecoin) checkout, and [cryptocurrency](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) debit card experiments.\n\nIn February 2026, Ler stated that the company had raised a Series A funding round to support engineering. A profile listing reports total funding of $14.2 million across five rounds.","categories":[{"id":"people","title":"people"}],"tags":[{"id":"Founder"},{"id":"Developer"}],"images":[{"id":"QmXGDauj7kSNn2oeBCnwmR5sPR5MZ99g5PHyK2vkLzx1By","type":"image/jpeg, image/png"}],"media":[{"id":"QmdsSMEukGE8rVdHVPoGBo6uyxmebSqd1ajes5aehy1Dr4","name":"1630523131962.jpeg","source":"IPFS_IMG","thumbnail":"QmdsSMEukGE8rVdHVPoGBo6uyxmebSqd1ajes5aehy1Dr4","caption":""}],"metadata":[{"id":"references","value":"[{\"id\":\"a834qqk3n3\",\"url\":\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaclerzc/\",\"description\":\"Zac Ler’s LinkedIn profile\",\"timestamp\":1792323149542},{\"id\":\"4dd2uj6hdm\",\"url\":\"https://cryptorank.io/persons/zac-ler\",\"description\":\"CryptoRank profile\",\"timestamp\":1792323149542},{\"id\":\"om1qzkihw6\",\"url\":\"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zaclerzc_from-collapse-to-10m-our-4-year-journey-activity-7393471213009854464-HXYH\",\"description\":\"Ler’s November 10, 2025 retrospective\",\"timestamp\":1792323370418},{\"id\":\"qd00f3lama\",\"url\":\"https://based.one/blog/2025-06-23-hyperapp\",\"description\":\"Based product announcement\",\"timestamp\":1792323370418},{\"id\":\"m6fyexjd0z\",\"url\":\"https://basedapp.gitbook.io/docs/llms-full.txt\",\"description\":\"Based documentation\",\"timestamp\":1792323370419},{\"id\":\"r9xowju0q9\",\"url\":\"https://fidoalliance.org/specifications/\",\"description\":\"FIDO Alliance specifications\",\"timestamp\":1792323370419},{\"id\":\"11hngzkpsb\",\"url\":\"https://fidoalliance.org/passkeys-2/\",\"description\":\"FIDO Alliance passkeys\",\"timestamp\":1792323370419},{\"id\":\"u9ct5mgeq3\",\"url\":\"https://medium.com/suberra/introducing-suberra-recurring-payments-protocol-for-web-3-0-fab4b719187\",\"description\":\"Suberra protocol introduction\",\"timestamp\":1792323370419},{\"id\":\"5fppvgxwdr\",\"url\":\"https://suberra.com/\",\"description\":\"Suberra official site\",\"timestamp\":1792323370419}]"},{"id":"main-image-origin","value":"{\"imageId\":\"QmXGDauj7kSNn2oeBCnwmR5sPR5MZ99g5PHyK2vkLzx1By\",\"originalId\":\"QmXbkLBB9w7SFx4pVWaHZkM8k2f7vy1ZMcV2HVjyvMjaUF\"}"},{"id":"linkedin_profile","value":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaclerzc"},{"id":"commit-message","value":"Add Zac Ler wiki"}],"events":[{"title":"Started DSO National Laboratories research internship","date":"2010-08-01","type":"DEFAULT","description":"Ler began a research internship in DSO National Laboratories’ Information Division.","link":"","country":"","continent":"","multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"6589990a-390d-41f7-b0d5-3dfd4a744e3e"},{"title":"Completed DSO National Laboratories research internship","date":"2011-02-01","type":"DEFAULT","description":"Ler completed his research internship in DSO National Laboratories’ Information 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