ZebPay elevates Anuj Garg as CTO, Bala Pulavarthi as VP Engg to drive AI, blockchain innovation

Crypto exchange ZebPay has elevated Anuj Kumar Garg as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Bala Pulavarthi as Vice President–Engineering, as the company strengthens its technology leadership amid growing adoption of digital assets, blockchain applications and artificial intelligence.

The leadership appointments come as the digital asset industry witnesses increasing institutional participation and greater focus on platform security, compliance and infrastructure resilience. ZebPay said the two executives will lead its long-term technology roadmap, scalability initiatives and engineering operations as the company expands investments across blockchain, AI, Web3 and next-generation digital asset infrastructure.

Garg, who previously served as Vice President–Engineering for more than four years, will now oversee the exchange's engineering, architecture, infrastructure, security, DevOps and data functions. He will also be responsible for driving AI-led initiatives, cloud-native transformation and platform modernisation efforts.

"As the digital asset ecosystem continues to evolve rapidly, strong technology leadership remains critical to building secure, scalable and future-ready platforms," said Raj Karkara, Chief Operating Officer at ZebPay. He added that the combined expertise of Garg and Pulavarthi across blockchain infrastructure, cybersecurity, AI and distributed systems would support the company's next phase of growth.

The appointments underscore a broader trend among crypto platforms to strengthen engineering leadership as the industry moves beyond trading-centric business models towards more sophisticated infrastructure, custody, security and Web3 services.

With over 25 years of experience spanning blockchain, artificial intelligence, automation and enterprise technology, Garg will be tasked with aligning ZebPay's technology and product strategy with its long-term growth plans. He has been involved in building the company's blockchain infrastructure and digital asset platform capabilities and is also active as a blockchain researcher and mentor.

"I am honoured to take on the role of CTO at such an exciting time for both the company and the digital asset industry," Garg said. "Our focus will remain on delivering secure, scalable and innovation-led solutions that enhance user trust and contribute to the growth of the broader blockchain ecosystem."

Alongside Garg's elevation, ZebPay promoted Bala Pulavarthi to Vice President–Engineering. Pulavarthi, who has more than 13 years of industry experience including over a decade in blockchain technology, has led initiatives across blockchain integrations, wallet architecture, digital asset custody and exchange infrastructure.

In his new role, he will focus on strengthening platform reliability, security and engineering execution while supporting the company's infrastructure expansion efforts.

"The digital asset ecosystem is entering a phase of accelerated evolution across innovation, infrastructure and adoption," Pulavarthi said. "Our focus will remain on strengthening platform reliability, security and engineering excellence while building resilient infrastructure that supports the future growth of Web3 and digital assets."

Founded in 2014, ZebPay is among India's oldest Bitcoin-focused exchanges and has more than six million registered users. The company is registered with India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and has increasingly focused on compliance-first initiatives amid evolving regulatory oversight of the digital asset sector.