New Delhi, Sept. 27 -- Despite leading one of the world's top blockchain platforms, Polygon Labs, Sandeep Nailwal, 38, remains relatively little written about in India. It could be because the co-founder and CEO, who divides his time between Delhi, Bengaluru, Dubai, and the US, is difficult to pin down. Despite being a jet-setter, when we meet in Delhi at a hotel coffee shop, Nailwal asserts that he hasn't given up his Indian citizenship-he firmly believes in India's growth story.

Dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, the boyish-looking Nailwal speaks matter-of-factly about his journey-from a tough childhood to building a global blockchain enterprise. At its peak, Polygon was feted as India's only crypto decacorn (a startup that has achieved a...