Bengaluru, Feb 10 : Mudrex, a leading Indian crypto exchange, has appointed securities market risk and compliance veteran, Rakhesh Raghunath, as Head of Compliance as the company aligns more closely with India’s rapidly evolving regulatory framework for virtual digital assets.
With nearly two decades of experience in financial services compliance and risk management, Raghunath will strengthen Mudrex’s compliance framework by bringing securities market-grade standards to the crypto platform.
Raghunath has previously led risk and compliance functions at institutions such as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and KFin Technologies, and more recently at CoinSwitch and Lemonn, where he worked closely with regulators and internal teams to operationalise compliance at scale.
The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for India’s crypto ecosystem. The regulatory landscape is seeing significant momentum with the Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU-IND) updated guidelines issued in January 2026, alongside enhanced reporting requirements introduced in this year’s Union Budget.
“India’s crypto investors deserve the same level of protection that capital market investors enjoy,”
Edul Patel, CEO, Mudrex.
“Rakhesh brings deep expertise in financial sector compliance at scale and has navigated India’s evolving crypto regulatory environment first-hand. At Mudrex, we have always viewed regulation and compliance as central to building a safe and secure crypto ecosystem for every Indian. I’m confident that Rakhesh will strengthen this vision and help raise industry standards.”
The updated FIU-IND guidelines mandate reporting entities, including crypto exchanges, to implement enhanced KYC protocols such as liveness detection and geolocation tracking. In her Budget speech earlier this month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also introduced amendments to the Income Tax Act that penalise crypto exchanges for delays and misreporting of crypto transactions to tax authorities.
“My focus at Mudrex will be to reinforce trust with users, regulators, governments and all other stakeholders through global-best compliance practices and risk standards,” said Raghunath. “Crypto regulation is evolving not just in India but globally. Our goal is to ensure that Mudrex is not only compliant, but consistently raises the bar for the industry.”
Under Raghunath’s leadership, Mudrex plans to further strengthen its compliance frameworks and reporting infrastructure while maintaining the highest standards of data privacy and security. The crypto exchange also aims to work more closely with regulators and policymakers to help shape a balanced, innovation-friendly regulatory framework for Web3 and crypto in India.
India continues to lead globally in crypto adoption, with around 119 million crypto investors, according to the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. A recent investor survey by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) found crypto awareness at 15% in India, higher than the 10% recorded for financial instruments such as corporate bonds.
As adoption rises, the need for stronger compliance, security and risk frameworks becomes critical to safeguard investor interests. Based in Bengaluru and founded in 2018, Mudrex is an FIU-IND registered crypto exchange with over 3 million users and more than ₹500 crore in assets under management