Rohas Nagpal
I am an Author, AI & Blockchain Architect, and retired Cyber Crime Investigator with 25+ years of experience at the intersection of law, technology, and finance.
Cyber Crime & Early Career
From the late 1990s to 2015, I worked as a cyber crime investigator across 18 countries, leading complex cases in digital forensics, cyber terrorism, and corporate liability.
- Co-founded the Asian School of Cyber Laws, a pioneering institution for cyber law, cybersecurity, and digital forensics education.
- Assisted the Government of India in drafting rules and regulations under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
- Authored the Cyber Crime Investigation Manual, described by The Times of India as the "Bible for cybercrime investigators".
- Wrote the first legal Commentary on the Information Technology Act in India.
- Conducted capacity-building programs for law enforcement, judiciary, corporates, and students in India and abroad.
- Published papers on digital signatures, encryption, biometrics; co-authored an Internet Draft on biometric-based digital signatures.
- Drafted the Compromis for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (USA).
Encounter with Bitcoin
I first came across Bitcoin in 2011 while assisting the police in a drug mafia case. Fascinated, I even mined some BTC - before making one of my biggest mistakes by deleting my private keys. That incident sparked a deep and lasting focus on blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain Architect & Industry Builder
- BankChain (2016–2020): Co-founded a consortium of 37 banks (including SBI, ICICI, Citibank, Deutsche Bank) with partners such as IBM, Microsoft, and Intel to explore blockchain in financial services.
- HyFi Blockchain (2021–2024): Designed and built HyFi, a zero-gas Layer-1 protocol for synthetic assets, enabling secure tokenization and regulated financial applications.
- Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH): Consultant for the official whitepaper on NFTs and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
During this period, I also:
- Authored the Crypto Playbook
- Authored the Future Money Playbook
- Authored the Tokenization Playbook
- Authored the Blockchain Engineering Playbook
Current Work in AI & Finance
Currently, I serve as Chief AI Architect at Sara AI, where I lead the design and deployment of predictive intelligence systems that are accurate, explainable, and actionable - across risk prediction, anomaly detection, and real-time decision intelligence.
I also mentor cross-functional teams to build scalable, production-ready AI platforms for finance, blockchain intelligence, and compliance.