# VALR

> VALR is a Johannesburg-based cryptocurrency exchange and financial infrastructure provider serving retail traders, corporates and institutions worldwide. Its services span buying and selling crypto, spot and derivatives trading, staking, lending, collateralised borrowing, payments, OTC execution and APIs. In September 2026 it reported more than 1.9 million registered users and 1,900 corporate and institutional clients.

- **Founded:** 2018
- **Headquarters:** Johannesburg, South Africa
- **Founders:** Farzam Ehsani (Co-founder and CEO), Badi Sudhakaran (Co-founder and CPO), Theo Bohnen (Co-founder and CTO (reported in recruitment profile))
- **Products:** Simple Buy/Sell and Auto-Buy, Spot trading, Spot Margin, Native perpetual futures, VALR Perps
- **Notable:** Raised US$54.9 million across the seed, Series A and Series B amounts reported by VALR., Received South African FSCA Category I and II crypto-service licences in April 2024., Announced an ODP licence and additional FSP licence in October 2025.

## Products & services

- **Simple Buy/Sell and Auto-Buy** — Quoted crypto conversions and recurring purchases for retail users.
- **Spot trading** — Order-book trading, including South African rand pairs introduced in June 2019.
- **Spot Margin** — Collateralised leveraged spot trading.
- **Native perpetual futures** — Crypto derivatives; the 2023 launch included BTC/ZAR and USDT/ZAR perpetual pairs.
- **VALR Perps** — Third-party-routed perpetuals powered by Hyperliquid, covering more than 200 markets across asset classes.
- **Borrow** — Crypto-backed borrowing with funds credited to the VALR account; collateral remains exposed to market risk.
- **Staking and Lending** — Products for eligible users to stake supported assets or supply assets to borrowers.
- **VALR Pay** — Transfers and merchant payments using supported fiat or crypto balances.
- **OTC desk and institutional accounts** — Large-transaction execution, subaccounts and shared-account controls.
- **API and developer tools** — Programmatic exchange access, documentation and public integration resources.
- **VALR Invest and Crypto Bundles** — Investment access and bundled portfolios, including Top 10 and BITGOLD.
- **xStocks** — Tokenised U.S. equity and index-fund price exposure, without ordinary shareholder rights.

## Achievements

- Raised US$54.9 million across the seed, Series A and Series B amounts reported by VALR.
- Received South African FSCA Category I and II crypto-service licences in April 2024.
- Announced an ODP licence and additional FSP licence in October 2025.
- Reported over 1.9 million registered users and 1,900 corporate and institutional clients in September 2026.
- Launched access to more than 200 Hyperliquid-powered Perps markets in July 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Published an engineering account of its Hydromancer data partnership on September 23.
- **2026-09** — Opposed aspects of draft South African capital-flow regulations in a September 9 user communication; these were proposals, not established final rules.
- **2026-09** — Announced completion of Hacken reserve verification on September 2.
- **2026-08** — Launched Borrow on August 25.
- **2026-07** — Launched 200-plus Hyperliquid-powered Perps markets on July 2.
- **2026-05** — Announced provisional Cayman Islands VASP approval on May 25; provisional status is not a full unrestricted licence.

## Links

- Website: https://www.valr.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/valr/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/VALRdotcom
- GitHub: https://github.com/valrdotcom
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VALRCryptoExchange
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valrdotcom/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VALRdotcom/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/valr
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-03