Edul Patel & Mudrex: Unlocking Crypto for India and Beyond

Edul Patel: Demystifying Crypto and Building Mudrex, India's Gateway to Digital Assets

Edul Patel, Co-Founder & CEO of Mudrex, is on a mission to make cryptocurrency accessible and understandable for everyone. He believes blockchain technology and tokenization are set to fundamentally change the world, especially finance. His journey, from IIT Bombay to Deutsche Bank, and through two startups, reflects a deep-seated drive to leverage technology for financial empowerment.

Sri Misra, Founder of aarna protocol recently had the chance to sit down with Edul for an in-depth conversation on the alpha un# podcast. Watch the full episode here! unhashed.co/edul

The Spark: From TradFi to Crypto Conviction

Edul's journey into the entrepreneurial world began after his time at IIT Bombay and a stint as a Senior Business Analyst at Deutsche Bank. At Deutsche Bank, working on the FX Risk and Margining desk, he witnessed firsthand the complexities and limitations of traditional finance. He saw how sophisticated financial tools and services were readily available to the wealthy but largely inaccessible to the average person. This experience planted the seed for his later ventures.

"Financial independence is mostly about you having this ability to balance your... cash flow... with the assets that you have and for most people most assets are really illiquid... what crypto can help potentially do is make illiquid assets today really liquid in the future..." 

His first startup, Niffler Labs, aimed to connect users with local offers and raised $1 million before being acquired by Tapzo in 2015. Edul then served as Head of Product at Tapzo before deciding to embark on his next venture.

The "aha!" moment for crypto came around 2017. Witnessing the limitations of the existing financial infrastructure and the simultaneous rise of Aadhaar/UPI in India and the potential of blockchain globally, Edul recognized crypto's power. He saw it as the key to building finance for the internet age – making information and value transfer accessible, transparent, and nearly free.

"What internet really did was it made information accessible to everyone at zero cost... And what crypto does is it does something similar... it also helps you enable value transfer without the need of a trusted intermediary at close to zero cost." 

Building Mudrex: A Phased Approach to Accessibility

Mudrex was founded in January 2018. The core idea was simple: make crypto investing easy and accessible. Edul and his team tackled this with a three-pronged strategy:

1. Fixing the Rails: Making the process of converting fiat currency (like INR) to crypto and back seamless and compliant was the first hurdle. They focused on building robust compliance stacks and strong banking relationships.

2. Investor-Friendly Products: Recognizing that most people lose money trading, Mudrex focused on investment products. They introduced "Coin Sets" – theme-based crypto baskets similar to mutual funds or ETFs – allowing diversified, passive investing. They also offer direct coin investing (350+ options) and staking for passive income.

3. Education and Information: Addressing the significant knowledge gap in crypto was crucial. Mudrex invested heavily in educational content through newsletters, blogs, videos, webinars, and now, "Learn with Mudrex," a dedicated learning platform. They also provide "Mudrex Insights" offering fundamental analysis scores for tokens.

Inside Mudrex: Growth, Numbers, and Evolution

Mudrex has grown significantly since 2018:

• User Base: Serves around 2.5-3 million users, primarily in India but expanding globally. It's recognized as India's largest crypto on-ramp/off-ramp platform.

• Offerings: Provides spot investing, Coin Sets, staking, futures trading (with up to 100x leverage on 500+ pairs), and premium OTC services for HNIs.

• Funding: Backed by Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, and others, raising $9 million.

• Revenue: Estimated Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $6-7 million.

• B2B Expansion (Saber.Money): An interesting development was the launch of Saber.Money, a global remittance and B2B on/off-ramp service. This emerged somewhat opportunistically after a temporary outage forced Mudrex to build more resilient payment infrastructure, which other platforms then wanted to use. Saber supports 75+ currencies.

The Founder's Journey: Lessons Learned

Edul candidly shared the challenges and learnings from his entrepreneurial journey on the podcast:

• Product Market Fit (PMF): He views PMF as an ongoing process, evolving as the company scales and the market changes. Mudrex has iterated through multiple products, from an automated trading infrastructure to index products, and now a full brokerage and B2B services.

• Mistakes & Learnings: Edul highlighted mistakes like hiring too many people too early, or too few too late, initially underestimating the India market upon its reopening, and betting on tech platforms (like StarkNet) without fully gauging adoption challenges. A key learning: "best distribution almost always wins" over just the best technology.

• Navigating Grey Areas: In crypto, founders often face ethically grey situations, particularly around KYC/AML. Edul emphasized Mudrex's clear stance: "If it's gray, let's move towards white... In the long arc of things, just staying on the right side always helps out.".

• Celebratory Moments from Failure: Often, the biggest wins come from overcoming setbacks. The creation of Saber.Money following a UPI outage is a prime example.

Vision for the Future: Crypto's Long Game

Edul remains a firm believer in crypto's long-term potential, viewing it akin to investing in startups – fundamentals matter, but adoption, narrative, and timing play huge roles. He sees finance as the sector most ripe for disruption by crypto, particularly through stablecoins revolutionizing payments.

"I really will add in the next two to five years, we will see a lot of cross-border money movements happening through stable funds." 

He envisions a future where tokenization makes currently illiquid assets liquid, unlocking vast economic potential. While acknowledging the challenges and the hype (like the overuse of "AI agents" currently), Edul sees Mudrex as being in the early stages of a long journey – perhaps year 7 of 20 – to fully realize crypto's promise.

Edul Patel's journey with Mudrex exemplifies the blend of conviction, adaptability, and principled leadership required to navigate the dynamic world of cryptocurrency. By focusing on accessibility, education, and robust infrastructure, Mudrex is carving out a significant space in empowering individuals to participate in the future of finance.