The 30-second read
Ram Akathya, in five lines
- Built CoinSwitch’s institutional OTC vertical from zero to USD 155M in transaction volume across 3.5 quarters. The desk now clears nearly 60% of India’s crypto OTC volume on five-figure monthly revenue (USD).
- 100+ institutional and family-office relationships built and carried as key-account lead, including the firm’s first family-office and institutional clients.
- Now in the Group CEO’s Office at PeepalCo, the USD 2.5B group behind CoinSwitch & Lemonn: new-product strategy and go-to-market across both companies, corporate development on new business lines, and the leadership team’s revenue reporting.
- Two promotions in the first year, culminating in the CEO’s office. The desk he started as a single seat now runs with a team of five.
- Bengaluru-based, flexible on travel and relocation. Best fit: standing up an institutional business in a new market, or a chief-of-staff seat that ships.
Strategy · Institutional Business · Digital Assets
Ram Akathya
Group CEO’s Office, PeepalCo · the USD 2.5B group behind CoinSwitch, India’s largest crypto investing platform, and Lemonn
I build institutional businesses where none exist, and run the machinery that scales them. At CoinSwitch, that meant taking an OTC and private-clients vertical from a blank page to USD 155M in transaction volume in under a year, and earning a seat in the Group CEO’s Office to work on what the firm builds next.
Ram Akathya is a strategy and business development professional in the Group CEO’s Office at PeepalCo, the USD 2.5 billion group behind CoinSwitch and Lemonn. He founded CoinSwitch’s institutional and private-clients OTC desk, which today clears nearly 60% of India’s crypto OTC volume.
Current Mandate
The work of the CEO’s office
Group CEO’s Office, PeepalCo · 2026 – Present
I.
New-product strategy & go-to-market
Own the launch thesis and market-entry sequence for a new product initiative spanning CoinSwitch and Lemonn, from strategy through execution across two operating companies.
II.
Corporate development & new business lines
Evaluate acquisitions and market entries that stand up new business lines for the group: where to build, where to buy, where to pass.
III.
Leadership & board-level reporting
Own the revenue and business-health reporting the leadership team runs on: the single operating picture behind weekly and monthly decisions.
IV.
Executive alignment
Turn leadership decisions into cross-company execution: the materials decisions are made on, and the follow-through that makes them hold outside the room.
V.
Market & venture landscape research
Map the venture and competitive landscape in digital assets to sharpen where the group invests its next dollar of build capital.
VI.
Policy & regulatory workstreams
Track digital-asset policy and regulation as it bears on India’s market structure, and on what the firm can build next.
Record
Outcomes, not activities
Each figure below is attributable to a vertical that did not exist before it was built.
~0%
Of India’s crypto OTC volume now clears through the desk
USD 0M
Transaction volume on the OTC desk, from inception, across 3.5 quarters
0-figure
Monthly revenue (USD) the desk now generates. A profit engine, not a cost centre
1 → 5
From a single seat to the team now running the desk
0+
Institutional and family-office relationships built and managed as key-account lead
0
Promotions in the first year, into the Group CEO’s Office
How I Operate
The field and the boardroom
The value I offer is carrying each room’s reality into the other: market signal into executive decisions, and executive intent into closed business.
In the field
Origination & coverage
Zero-to-one business building with the most exacting counterparties in the market: origination, negotiation, and close. Behind it, the onboarding machinery, run end-to-end across compliance, product, and trading, so a signed client becomes a trading one.
In the boardroom
Strategy & execution
The judgment layer between what the market is saying and what the organisation does about it: launch theses, acquisition evaluations, and the reporting cadence that keeps executive decisions grounded in field reality.
Most careers select for the field or the boardroom. Mine is the carry between them.
Experience
From a blank page to the CEO’s office
-
2026 – Present
Group CEO’s Office · Strategy, Corporate Development & New Initiatives
PeepalCo (CoinSwitch & Lemonn)
- Six workstreams, detailed under Current Mandate: from new-product strategy and acquisition evaluation to the leadership team’s reporting cadence.
-
2025 – 2026
Institutional Business · OTC Desk & Private Clients
CoinSwitch
- Founded the vertical: launched CoinSwitch’s OTC desk from a blank page with trading, product, and compliance, and originated the firm’s first family-office and institutional client relationships.
- Negotiated and closed high-value trades with family offices, UHNIs, and institutions, carrying the book as key-account lead.
- Left behind a business, not a book: a staffed team and a standalone profit centre.
-
2024 – 2025
Ecosystem GTM & B2B Sales · India Blockchain Week
Hashed Emergent · Web3 venture fund & ecosystem builder
- Scaled India Blockchain Week 2024 to 4,000+ attendees and USD 100K+ revenue in 60 days, owning go-to-market, operations, and B2B sales.
- Closed 25+ partnerships across venture funds, protocols, and ecosystems; converted 50+ founder communities into a ticketing funnel driving 35% of total sales.
B.Tech, Computer Science, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bengaluru (Distinction) · President, Amrita Management & Leadership Club, led sponsorship to ₹1 crore+ (~USD 110K) · Patent filed: terrain-adaptive wheel system.
Perspectives
From the operator’s seat
Selected writing on institutional adoption of digital assets, published on LinkedIn.
Institutional Adoption
What conservative capital asks before it moves onchain
Custody, compliance, counterparty risk, and reporting precede any conversation about returns. Observations from onboarding family offices and institutions at India’s largest crypto platform.
Read on LinkedIn ↗
India & APAC
India’s family-office capital and the case for digital assets
Why one of the region’s fastest-growing wealth pools engages on different terms, and what earning its confidence requires.
Read on LinkedIn ↗
Zero to One
Building an institutional desk inside a retail-first company
The machinery behind a nine-figure desk: pipeline where none existed, KYC/AML coordination, and the discipline of converting client requirements into product decisions.
Read on LinkedIn ↗
Contact
Standing up an institutional business,
or a CEO’s office that ships?
Based in Bengaluru; flexible on travel and relocation. If the mandate involves bringing institutions into a new market, or carrying field reality into executive decisions, I would welcome the conversation.