Ajeet Khurana on How Crypto Evolved from Ban to Billion Dollar Industry in India

When most entrepreneurs struggle to build one successful startup, Ajeet Khurana has quietly constructed an empire of over 10 profitable Web3 businesses. As the founder of Reflexical Pte Ltd and former CEO of Zebpay, one of India's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Khurana represents a unique voice in the blockchain space-one that prioritizes sustainable revenue over token speculation.

This comprehensive profile draws from Khurana's recent appearance on the alpha un# podcast with host Srikumar Misra, where he shared previously undisclosed insights about India's crypto regulatory landscape and his unconventional approach to Web3 building. 

Early Life and Educational Foundation

Ajeet Khurana's journey into technology began with a solid academic foundation. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai, providing him with the technical expertise that would later prove crucial in understanding blockchain technology.

Recognizing the importance of business acumen in the tech industry, Khurana pursued an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin, one of America's top business schools. This combination of engineering and business strategy positioned him uniquely to bridge the gap between complex technology and practical business applications.

The Bitcoin Awakening: From Skeptic to Believer

Khurana's crypto journey began in 2014 with a moment of complete rejection.

"Within a few minutes of reading about Bitcoin, I said, ha ha, this is nonsense. As in I just rejected it within probably something like 5-10 minutes of finding out about it because it seemed weird and really out there."

Despite his initial skepticism, Khurana remained intellectually curious. He discovered a Princeton University course on Coursera-at the time, the only reputable online resource for learning about cryptocurrency.

"It was a terribly boring course but an extremely informative course. I would have to watch several videos many times so that I don't fall asleep, but I learned a lot."

By 2016, his perspective had completely shifted. The Princeton course helped him understand how peer-to-peer transactions could scale into an entire economic system. By mid-2017, he had made a career-defining decision.

"I basically decided this is where I want to spend the rest of my career."

Leading India's Crypto Regulatory Efforts

Before joining the private sector, Khurana played a pivotal role in shaping India's cryptocurrency regulatory framework. On January 2, 2018, he became Head of the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee under the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

This committee emerged from the earlier Digital Assets and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI), which had included cryptocurrency exchanges, legal firms like Nishit Desai Associates, and various industry players. The transition to IAMAI provided the industry with a more established platform for regulatory engagement.

The committee's work proved crucial during India's crypto banking crisis. When the Reserve Bank of India imposed restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions, the case that ultimately reached the Supreme Court was led by IAMAI's Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee under Khurana's leadership.

Zebpay: Building India's Largest Bitcoin Exchange

In March 2018, Khurana joined Zebpay as CEO, taking the helm of what would become India's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Under his leadership, Zebpay reached over 3 million users, processing billions of dollars in transactions and making Bitcoin accessible to mainstream Indian investors.

The Business Model Revolution

During Khurana's tenure, the Indian crypto market operated fundamentally differently than today. He revealed striking statistics about the market composition:

"Over 95% of the trading used to be crypto to fiat. That means crypto to INR. In most cases, it also meant Bitcoin to INR."

This fiat-focused trading made exchanges like Zebpay the primary on-ramp for India's entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. Nearly every crypto investor began their journey by transferring money from their bank accounts to these exchanges.

The RBI Crisis: Principles Over Profits

The defining moment of Khurana's tenure came on March 25-26, 2018, when the Reserve Bank of India announced banking restrictions on cryptocurrency exchanges. While his founders were attending Consensus in New York, Khurana faced a crisis that would reshape India's entire crypto landscape.

"I woke them up at 4 AM or 5 AM their time and said, the worst that could have happened has happened."

The RBI gave exchanges just 90 days to wind down their banking relationships. For Zebpay, which held substantial customer fiat deposits, this meant an intensive operation to return funds to users.

"We hired so many more expensive people. Just imagine hiring a chartered accountant, auditor level or chartered accountant just for bookkeeping purposes because we couldn't make mistakes because there would soon be no opportunity to check those mistakes."

The Peer-to-Peer Decision

While most exchanges pivoted to peer-to-peer trading models to circumvent banking restrictions, Zebpay made a different choice. Khurana and his team decided against P2P trading due to compliance concerns.

"We were convinced that there will necessarily be bad actors who will come, who will try to use bad money in peer-to-peer. Our customers would be dealing with us trusting us, but they would potentially run into trouble, and we did not feel that was the right thing to do."

This principled stance came at enormous cost. Zebpay's volumes fell by over 99%, while competitors who adopted P2P models initially thrived. However, Khurana's prediction proved accurate—most exchanges that implemented P2P trading eventually shut down due to compliance issues.

Global Expansion

Following the Indian market closure, Khurana was promoted to CEO of Zebpay Global, overseeing operations in Malta, Singapore, Australia, and other international markets. This experience provided him with valuable insights into global crypto regulations and market dynamics.

Founding Reflexical: The Web3 Studio Model

In April 2022, Khurana founded Reflexical Pte Ltd, pioneering what he calls the Web3 studio model. Based in Singapore, Reflexical operates as both an advisory firm and a startup studio, creating multiple businesses simultaneously.

The Philosophy: Revenue First

Reflexical's approach differs fundamentally from typical Web3 ventures:

"I have a huge problem if a business does not have revenues and hopefully profits. All of the businesses that I'm talking about, every one of them has revenue streams."

This revenue-first philosophy has produced remarkable results. Out of over 10 businesses in Reflexical's portfolio, only one has failed-and even that venture was restarted with lessons learned.

Portfolio Overview

Reflexical's ventures span multiple verticals:

Media and Content: Vroom Vroom, co-founded with Ronak Shah, addresses the quality gap in crypto media. The company emerged when Khurana pivoted a potential partner away from metaverse real estate brokerage toward content creation.

Technical Innovation: Winks enables applications to run within Twitter without browser extensions or middleware, solving fundamental user experience problems in Web3.

Infrastructure: Bull Walker represents Khurana's attempt at building a truly decentralized launchpad, starting with full decentralization rather than the typical "progressive decentralization" approach.

Service Businesses: Multiple advisory and development services that support the product ventures and provide immediate revenue.

The Studio Economics

Khurana's original plan was conservative:

"My expectation was for every 30 projects where I would be an advisor, I would be like setting up one or two."

However, the studio side proved more compelling:

"Instead of being 1 is to 30, it was turning out to be like 1 is to 9. So, a lot of my activity presently happens at the studio level where I am actually setting up businesses of my own."

Operational Challenges

The primary constraint for Reflexical's growth isn't capital or ideas-it's finding the right operational leaders:

"The limitation to the growth of the studio business comes from my ability to get the right founder who is motivated, who can dedicate full time, who has the ability to sustain themselves financially for a certain period."

Industry Insights and Market Analysis

The Evolution of Crypto Trading

Khurana provides unique insight into how India's crypto market has evolved. The trading composition has shifted dramatically:

"Now the 90% is taken up by derivatives. So now spot trading put together has become like 5% to 10%. And the rest is coming from perpetuals."

This represents a complete inversion from the 95% fiat-to-crypto trading that dominated during his Zebpay tenure.

The UX Problem in Web3

One of Khurana's most pointed criticisms addresses the poor user experience in Web3:

"People just didn't care about good UX because they were happy building for other Web3 people. Good UX was already available for 20 years before crypto. So why would we have such pathetic browser extension popping up when better UX has been available?"

This observation explains much about crypto's limited mainstream adoption and informs Reflexical's focus on building for actual users rather than crypto enthusiasts.

True Decentralization Challenges

Unlike most Web3 entrepreneurs who promise eventual decentralization, Khurana is candid about the challenges:

"Starting a completely decentralized organization is challenging like hell. I have not yet done even one."

He criticizes the common "progressive decentralization" approach:

"A common path to decentralization has been start with fairly high degree of centralization and then progress along the path of decentralization. There was, of the 1000 steps you have to take to decentralization, you would like to take 5 and 10 and then just not move further."

Global Operations and Market Perspective

Reflexical operates globally, with Khurana based in Dubai while the company is incorporated in Singapore. This geographic distribution reflects the global nature of Web3 and the importance of regulatory-friendly jurisdictions.

His move to Dubai wasn't initially planned-Singapore's extended COVID lockdowns led him to relocate temporarily to Dubai, where he discovered a thriving crypto ecosystem:

"A lot of crypto people moved to Dubai. So Singapore, which I was at that point maybe in the late 20s, late 2020 and maybe early 21, was considered to be a better place than Dubai. It just totally changed because everybody was now in Dubai."

Investment Strategy and Market Outlook

Khurana's investment philosophy centers on real-world applications and sustainable business models rather than speculation. At Reflexical, he focuses on projects with strong founding teams, clear revenue models, and scalable solutions.

His approach to Web3 building emphasizes:

• Revenue generation from day one

• Building for mainstream users, not just crypto enthusiasts

• True decentralization when technically feasible

• Portfolio diversification across multiple ventures

Vision for the Future

Looking ahead, Khurana envisions a world where Web3 technology becomes seamlessly integrated into daily life without users needing to understand the underlying blockchain infrastructure. His work at Reflexical aims to bridge the gap between Web2 user expectations and Web3 technological capabilities.

"It's going to take a village. It's going to take a set of people who probably are lending everything right from support activity to guidance activity right from mentorship to services."

Industry Recognition and Thought Leadership

Khurana has established himself as a prominent voice in the global Web3 ecosystem. He serves as a Founding Member of the DavosWeb3 Roundtable and contributes to the Flex Ecosystem, sharing insights on cryptocurrency regulation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable business models.

His thought leadership extends beyond Web3, with publications addressing broader entrepreneurial challenges such as "The Quickest Way to Sink Your Business: Listen to Your VC" and "Why VCs Don't Say 'No' to Entrepreneurs, and Why This Is Bad for Everyone."

Personal Philosophy and Approach

Despite his success, Khurana maintains a grounded perspective on business building. At 55, he brings a mature approach to an industry often dominated by younger entrepreneurs focused on rapid scaling and token appreciation.

"I like to earn income. That's probably because I'm very old-I'm 55 years old. Although in the crypto space, maybe the mid-30s feels more like mid-50s."

This perspective informs Reflexical's focus on sustainable, profitable businesses rather than ventures dependent on continuous funding or token price appreciation.