The Good Tech Companies - Inside VALR: Badi Sudhakaran Reveals Secrets to Crypto Exchange Success

Starting point is 00:00:00 This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. Inside VALR, Badi Sudhakaran reveals secrets to crypto exchange success. By Ashan Pandey, in this edition of Behind a Startup, Ashan Pandey sits down with Badi Sudhakaran, chief product officer of VALR, one of Africa's leading cryptocurrency exchanges. In a no-holds-barred conversation, Bhatti shares how Aspark of Ambition, the right team, and Bold Decisions helped build VALR into a global crypto force. From product innovation to cybersecurity, he breaks down what it takes to stand out in one of the world's most competitive industries.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Ashant Pandey Hi Bhatti Sudhakaran, it's a pleasure to welcome you to our, behind the startup, series. What inspired you to build VALR, and how has its PRODUCTVISION evolved over the past 7 years? Badi Sudhakaran There was a glaring opportunity staring me in the face. It was mean to take, but it required courage, initiative, and a bit of creativity to bring

Starting point is 00:01:05 it to life. I also knew I needed the right people to do it with, and at the time, I was indeed surrounded by the right people. All I had to do was convince them that it was a good idea to quit our stable jobs and start something from scratch, without any guarantees of capital inflow or long-term success, in 2017, when the idea for VALR was still forming in our minds, our goal was to create a world-class crypto exchange, one with the best fees, best API, best user experience, best mobile app, and the widest selection of crypto assets available in

Starting point is 00:01:37 South Africa. At the time, the only alternative for consumers was a single exchange with a monopoly on the market, offering just bitcoin trading at extremely high prices. We were able to deliver on everything we set out to achieve. Since founding, VALR's vision has evolved. Today, we're focused on providing innovative financial services not just for retail customers, but especially for institutional clients who can use our crypto products and financial infrastructure to serve their own customers. Ashaan Pandey In the competitive scene of crypto exchanges,

Starting point is 00:02:10 how does VALRDIFFERENTIATE itself to enhance user experience and satisfaction? Bhatti Sudhakaran In my opinion, the biggest driver of crypto adoption is user experience. There's still a perception, especially among those new to the space, that crypto is difficult to learn, understand, and use. From day one, we've aimed to deliver a world-class experience in everything we launch, making it accessible to users of all experience levels. From spot-in-spot margin trading to perpetual futures, staking, lending, and valour pay, our core offering is comprehensive.

Starting point is 00:02:46 But, what sets VALR apart is the depth-off functionality we provide for advanced traders and institutions. Our world-class API is built for speed, reliability and scale, empowering high-frequency traders, HFTs, and institutions to execute sophisticated strategies. We also offer powerful features like subaccounts and shared accounts, designed to meet institutional grade requirements while ensuring best practice security for all customers. Alongside this, we aim to be among the fastest in terms of response times and resolution when users need help. We believe crypto is for everyone, and we design our products and services with that

Starting point is 00:03:24 belief at the core. Aashan Pandey, as Chief Product Officer, how do you balance the integration OFINNOVATIVE features, speed and security with maintaining a user-friendly interface on VALR? Bhatti Sudhakaran, at VALR, we aim to operate like we run a security company first and a crypto exchange second. Security is always top of mind, it's at the core of everything we envision, design, and execute. Security and convenience often stand at odds, but we strive to make security measures as simple and intuitive as possible. We iterate on them multiple times to ensure the result

Starting point is 00:04:00 remains user-friendly without compromising safety. Ashaan Pondi Considering the unique aspects of the African crypto market, HOWHAS VALR tailored its services to meet the specific needs of users in THISREGION. Bhatti Sudhakaran VALR is the largest crypto exchange by volume based in Africa. In South Africa specifically, we're a licensed and regulated crypto service provider. We've partnered locally with banks to enable lightning-fast fiat trails, allowing users to instantly on-and-off-ramp South African rand, the local currency.

Starting point is 00:04:36 We've also engineered our products for institutions and fund managers to enable them to distribute crypto products and services. We've seen strong demand in the African market for trading dollar-backed stablecoins like USDT and USDC, and were well positioned to serve both retail and institutional clients in meeting this need. Ashant Pondy. With the global evolution of cryptocurrency exchanges, what TRENDSDO you foresee, and how is Valor positioning itself to adapt to these changes? Bhatti Sudhakaran We're seeing several major trends shaping

Starting point is 00:05:08 the future of crypto exchanges globally. One is the proliferation of stablecoins, which are increasingly acting as crypto rails and unlocking massive potential in the remittance space. Another is the rise of real-world asset, RWA, trading, tokenized versions of financial instruments like bonds, savings, and the IELD-generating products that bring traditional finance into the crypto world. There's also growing adoption in payments use cases, with merchants accepting crypto directly, and from existing crypto users who want to borrow against their holdings or use

Starting point is 00:05:40 crypto-backed cards for everyday spending. These use cases are rapidly transitioning from fringe to mainstream. At VALR, we're actively building for many of these emerging opportunities and look forward to unveiling these solutions in the near future. As the crypto industry sheds much of the misinformation and misunderstanding that plagued its early years, traditional financial institutions are entering the space and beginning to offer crypto products and services to stay relevant to their customers. VALR aspires to play a pivotal role in this transition, and we've already begun doing

Starting point is 00:06:13 so by helping several large financial institutions get onto their crypto feet. Ashaan Pandey What cyber security strategies has VALR implemented to ENHANCEUSER Trust and Security of the Platform? Bhadis Sudhakaran. VALR employs a multi-layered approach to securing both our infrastructure and our users' accounts. Our wallets span hot, warm and cold wallets. Our hot wallets are online for operational liquidity and hold a fraction of the assets we manage at any given time, while our cold wallets, where we hold the fraction of the assets we manage at any given time, while our cold wallets,

Starting point is 00:06:45 where we hold the majority of the assets we manage, are fully air-gapped, not connected to the internet, and require multiple signatures from geographically distributed signers to operate. The keys are securely stored in institutional vaults with 24-7 surveillance. From a user account security perspective, all personally identifiable information is encrypted. Two-factor authentication is enabled by default. Each new device must be explicitly authenticated by the user before it can be used. Users can also lock their withdrawals to a custom whitelist of addresses,

Starting point is 00:07:18 and they can instantly block their accounts if they detect suspicious activity. All sensitive actions automatically require multi-factor authentication. We employ multiple third-party security experts to conduct audits and penetration tests to assess every potential point of vulnerability within our platform on a regular basis. We continually review our processes, tools, and practices to ensure we implement best-in-class security measures across every aspect of the platform. Ashawn Pondy. How do you envision the future of crypto exchanges worldwide? And DWHAT are your thoughts on the evolving regulatory environment around crypto? Bhatti Sudhakaran. This past year marks the first time in VALR's seven-year journey that

Starting point is 00:07:59 we've operated within a formal regulatory framework. We're now officially licensed by the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority. It's a major milestone, not just for us, but for the African crypto ecosystem as a whole. Running a financial platform that operates the 24th of July 365 while navigating years of regulatory ambiguity is a testament to the world-class team at VALR. Globally, regulators have moved on from questioning crypto's legitimacy to actively defining the rules that will govern it. VALR is already expanding its licensed footprint across multiple jurisdictions and building

Starting point is 00:08:35 infrastructure that can serve not only crypto-native users, but also banks, asset managers, fintechs, and even governments. My co-founder and VALR's CEO, Farzah Massani, recently said greater than, the financial markets are going through tremendous upheaval, portending a greater than changing world order. The world is still establishing the role Bitcoin and greater than crypto will play in this order. These are extraordinary times, and I'm excited to see how VALR can contribute meaningfully to a more inclusive, transparent, and efficient global financial system. Don't forget to like and share the story.

Starting point is 00:09:11 Tip Vested Interest Disclosure. This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. Hacker Noon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. Hashtag dyo. Thank you for listening to this Hacker Noon story, read by Artificial Intelligence. Visit hackernoon.com to read, write, learn and publish.

The Good Tech Companies - Inside VALR: Badi Sudhakaran Reveals Secrets to Crypto Exchange Success

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