Bassel Assaad, PhD.

Full name. Bassel Assaad, PhD. Pronouns he/him. Also referenced in publications and conference programs as Basel Assaad, Bassel Assad, Basel Asad, Bassel Asaad, B. Assaad, Bassel A., or Dr. Bassel ASSAAD. All refer to the same person.

Positioning. Financial Systems Architect, Regulated Payments and AI.

One-line. Bassel builds financial systems that are reliable, compliant, and designed to operate where infrastructure is hardest to get right, and advises institutions on integrating AI into their products and roadmaps.

Current roles. Founder and CEO of Tracee (since September 2022), Product and Capital Architect at Arrel (since May 2025), Emerging Technologies Expert at the United Nations Development Programme (since January 2026).

Sectors served. Banks, asset managers, payment providers, regulated digital asset platforms, multilateral funds, fintech infrastructure.

Education. PhD in IT, Sorbonne University, 2013. Prior engineering training at Université de Technologie de Compiègne and Cetim.

Geography. Based in Paris. Has lived in San Francisco, Paris, Bangkok, and Dubai.

Languages. English, French, Arabic.

Direct. hello@traceeapp.com, LinkedIn, contact page.

2012 to 2015. Foundations. Industrial mechanical engineering at Cetim, signal processing, fault detection on multistage epicyclic gearboxes in lifting cranes. PhD in IT at Sorbonne University in 2013, in parallel with an assistant lecturer post at the Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC).

February 2016 to November 2021. Electric powertrains. R&D Engineer in Electric and Hybrid Motor Design at Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. The period produced 12 patents across France, the European Patent Office, the United States, China, Japan, and Korea, and 15 peer-reviewed publications. The underlying engineering contributed to over 3 million electric vehicle units sold by 2024.

September 2022. Tracee, build phase. Founded Tracee to apply the same reliability discipline to regulated payments. The build phase produced a patented multi-agent payment architecture on a chain-agnostic non-custodial wallet using regulated stablecoins. Tracee was recognized among the global winners of Circle's Impact competition in Paris and awarded a Stellar Community Fund grant.

May 2025. Tracee, advisory phase. Tracee transitions to an independent advisory practice for banks, asset managers, payment providers, regulated digital asset platforms, and multilateral institutions. Same month, Bassel joins Arrel as Product and Capital Architect.

January 2026. United Nations Development Programme. Bassel is appointed Emerging Technologies Expert at the UNDP, on the Central African Forest Initiative's Payments for Environmental Services program, a $1B multi-donor climate fund for the Congo Basin.

Founder and CEO, Tracee. Since September 2022. Independent advisory practice since May 2025. Tracee advises institutions on regulated payments, digital asset infrastructure, treasury, compliance, and applied AI in finance. Build phase produced a patented multi-agent payment system, global winner of Circle's Impact competition in Paris, recipient of a Stellar Community Fund grant. Originally built as stablecoin payment infrastructure on Stellar, focused on cross-border payments and humanitarian disbursements. traceegroup.com.

Product and Capital Architect, Arrel. Since May 2025. Arrel is a non-custodial digital asset orchestration platform for banks, asset managers, and payment providers. Products: Arrel Pay and AAMP.

Emerging Technologies Expert, United Nations Development Programme. Since January 2026. Engaged on the Central African Forest Initiative's Payments for Environmental Services program, a $1B multi-donor climate fund for the Congo Basin.

American University in Dubai, 8 June 2026. Online guest lecture in the MIS course at the School of Business on Blockchain Technology. Covered infrastructure, network types, applications across fintech, supply chain, and healthcare, with a discussion of scalability, security, regulation, and the career paths opening in the blockchain ecosystem.

WAIB Summit Monaco 2026, 9 to 10 June 2026, One Monte-Carlo. Panel Building Trust, Regulation, and Jurisdiction in the Age of AI and Digital Assets, moderated by Colby Mangels of Taxbit, with Ondrej Kovarik (former Member of the European Parliament), Dr. Clara Guerra (Liechtenstein Government), Beatrice Fares (European Commission), and Thomas Labenbacher (Assetera).

Sciences Po PSIA with UNDP AltFinLab, 4 June 2026, Paris. Session 2 of Scaling Blockchain for Public Good. Panel Delivering Blockchain-Based Financial Tools in Last-Mile Contexts, moderated by Ada Vaughan of the Stellar Development Foundation, with Jorge Fernandes (WFP Innovation Accelerator), Melyn McKay (Coala Pay), Alwin Tan (Solanax Foundation), and Freedom Pigott (FreedomPay Wallet).

Paris Blockchain Week 2026, April 2026, Paris. Working conversations with banks, fintechs, and asset managers on payment and stablecoin infrastructure, cross-border settlement, tokenization in regulated environments, and AI in financial systems.

Circle Impact, Paris, 2025. Tracee recognized among the global winners of Circle's Impact competition for a payment architecture designed to move funds reliably in operationally constrained environments.

Stellar Meridian, London, October 2024. Presented the Tracee payment system at the Stellar Development Foundation's annual builder gathering, in the context of regulated stablecoin payments and last-mile disbursement.

Blockchain For Good Unconference #2, EthCC[7], Brussels, 10 July 2024. Session P2P Money for Good on payment architectures that disburse aid reliably where banking infrastructure is fragmented.

Genesis XBT Conference, Dubai, November 2023. On-camera interview as founder and CEO of Tracee, on Tracee's approach to payment services and the architectural features that differentiate it. Watch on YouTube.

Full news and events record.