VALR was founded in 2018 and has since become South Africa’s largest crypto exchange by trade volume.

Licensed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and based in Johannesburg, VALR focuses on making finance work better for humanity.

In 2025, VALR announced a partnership with the DHL Stormers as their Official Crypto Exchange Partner.

Farzam Ehsani, VALR’s co-founder and CEO, has a diverse background. He was the Blockchain Lead at Rand Merchant Bank and the FirstRand Group. Earlier, he worked at McKinsey & Company, Deloitte Consulting, the Baha’i World Centre, and the United Nations. He studied economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

In this interview, Ehsani shares insights on crypto, VALR’s role, and its work to progress finance.

Can you explain what crypto really means, and how VALR fits into that picture?

Money has always changed throughout human history. Before currencies like the US dollar and the South African rand, gold played a key role in trade. Even earlier, people used shells, beads, salt, and many other forms of money to pay with. Crypto, starting with Bitcoin, is the newest form of money. It moves across the world easily and puts control back in the hands of the user.

The world has changed a great deal since a hundred years ago. Our financial systems need upgrades to serve everyone better. Money should be trustworthy. It should allow easy transfers between people, no matter where they live. No one should be left out of the system.

VALR is an app where people can acquire these new forms of money with just a few clicks. Users can also save, earn, and make payments. Our goal is to help build a global financial system that honours the oneness of humanity. By providing the infrastructure for crypto assets, we help individuals and businesses enter the future of finance.

What inspired you to launch VALR, and what principles guide the company?

I have a deep love for people and a strong belief in humanity’s bright future. That future will not arrive on its own. We must work to build it. With VALR, we set out to create a new kind of institution, one dedicated to serving humanity, and helping our customers thrive.

VALR has a diverse workforce, both in South Africa and around the world. As a Baha’i, I hold the unity of mankind as a core principle. Everyone at VALR brings their own background and makes a unique contribution. What unites us are shared values and principles. We commit to truthfulness, service, and trustworthiness in everything we do, to leave a legacy of making the world a little better than we found it.

What kinds of services does VALR provide to its users?

We make it easy for any user to sign up for a free account within minutes. Users have several options to deposit funds and begin their crypto journey. We’ve built a seamless interface to allow anyone to easily buy and sell crypto like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and many more. For those that have difficulty choosing we offer a Crypto Bundle called VALR10 that allows you to buy the top 10 crypto assets with one click.

You can buy US dollar stablecoins and earn an hourly yield on these holdings, something that is unavailable in traditional finance. VALR also offers you the ability to buy tokenised stocks, providing price exposure to companies like Tesla and NVIDIA, or even the S&P 500. You can also buy tokenised gold called XAUT.

Outside of trading, users can lend out ZAR or crypto to earn a yield. We enable free transfers to friends via VALR Pay. Plus, the VALR app is integrated with Zapper, Scan-to-Pay, and Peach Payments allowing for payments at over 31,000 stores and 700,000 locations across South Africa.

How can someone new to this get started with VALR?

Getting involved is easy. As part of our partnership with the DHL Stormers, we have a special sign-up code: STORMERS2025.

Using it brings extra benefits. For example, anyone who signs up with that code has a chance to win free Bitcoin during DHL Stormers matches in the United Rugby Championship. For every point scored by the team, one randomly selected user receives some Bitcoin. If the team wins, one user gets R10,000 in Bitcoin. To use the code, visit valr.com/signup/STORMERS2025.

VALR has established itself as the leading crypto platform in South Africa since we started nearly eight years ago. It’s still early days and I invite you to join us in making the financial system better for humans across the world.