Rapid Fire with YS Life: Nischal Shetty, Co-founder, WazirX

Nischal Shetty, Co-founder of WazirX, gives a peek into his life beyond his business.

Friday March 29, 2024 , 4 min Read

WazirX Co-founder Nischal Shetty can be accorded the veteran title for their constant innovation in the volatile space of cryptocurrency.

Along with former Zebpay CEO Avinash Shekhar, he recently launched Pi42, a crypto-INR futures platform to offer Indians the unique opportunity to dive into derivatives trading in rupees and build passive earning avenues. Pi24 is the first exchange platform to allow users to invest their rupees, thereby eliminating the need for complex layers to trade.

As a former software developer, and seasoned entrepreneur, Shetty is responsible for the overall strategy, product and marketing at WazirX. With passion for crypto-assets since 2009, Shetty has now become a blockchain influencer, actively engaging with his 488.8K followers on X (formerly Twitter) about building Web3, crypto and blockchain.

In an attempt to get to know the man behind WazirX, we posed some fun and quirky questions to Shetty for the Rapid Fire with YS Life column.

YS Life [YSL]: What are the three words that best describe you?

Nischal Shetty [NS]: I would like to think that integrity, curiosity and persistence are three words that describe me best.

YSL: What is the last application that you have downloaded?

NS: Pi42, it’s a new crypto INR futures platform that I am building with my co-founder Avinash Shekhar.

YSL: What was the last movie or show that has inspired you?

NS: I really liked watching Air. As a serial entrepreneur, I look for content in different forms that have lessons around building companies, strategising and scaling products.

YSL: What is your guilty pleasure?

NS: Coding. I can code nonstop and I always feel rejuvenated whenever I code.

YSL: Your advice to people who are new to cryptocurrency and trading? Is it safe to invest in cryptocurrency?

NS: Gone are the days when people would speculate if crypto has any value or not. Now they want to know how they can create value for themselves with crypto. Bitcoin is the ultimate store of value and several altcoins have proven their potential to become utility tokens for a fully decentralised ecosystem. People have sufficient autonomy to create anything they want with crypto.

If you’re new to trading, make sure you do your research well, read market reports, token movement patterns, past performance, etc. If you want investment advice from financial experts, make sure they have enough credibility.

YSL: Two startup founders that you don’t mind getting stuck in an elevator with?

NS: Definitely Elon Musk and Sir Richard Branson.

YSL: What’s the first thing that you do in the morning?

NS: What I wish I did is meditate. What I actually do is check my phone.

YSL: The last thing that you do before hitting the bed?

NS: Over the years I’ve built this habit of mentally listing all challenges that my team and I are currently facing at work. This task really helps me find solutions while filtering all the noise. It has helped me deal with many roadblocks. A good sleep helps you wake up with the best approaches to any problem.

YSL: Fame or money?

NS: Neither. It’s the ability to make a positive difference in the world that drives me. But if I had to choose, I would choose money, it helps solve a lot of problems including buying fame if one needs that to be happy.

YSL: The one thing that you love about your job?

NS: I love building things from scratch. The Web3 industry gives me the perfect opportunity to do so. I cannot sit idle and because of the continuously evolving nature of crypto, I never have to.

YSL: The one thing that you hate about your job?

NS: Legal paperwork, most boring but much needed part of running a business. It would be great if there was a way to automate it all with utmost precision.