Laksh Gangwani on 24x5 Trading, Tokenized Stocks, AI, and the Future of Financial Services

In Episode 43 of The Exponential Show, host Mayank Singh sits down with Laksh Gangwani, Chief Growth Officer at ViewTrade, for a conversation on fintech, capital markets, AI, tokenized stocks, cross-border financial services, and the future of wealth technology.

Laksh has played an important role in ViewTrade’s growth across APAC and the Middle East, with experience spanning Singapore, Australia, Thailand, Dubai, India IFSC, and other key markets. His work sits at the intersection of capital markets infrastructure, cross-border financial services, and business growth.

This episode was shot at True Digital Park, Thailand’s most comprehensive landing spot for international businesses and individuals.

From Technology to Capital Markets Infrastructure

Laksh’s career began in technology, where he worked at Motorola on future-facing technologies and intellectual property protection.

That early experience shaped the way he thinks about innovation. For Laksh, the central question has always been: what is the one specific thing that can be improved for the customer?

That mindset carried through his later roles across finance, business building, and regional growth. At ViewTrade, he found what he describes as the perfect fit: a company with problem-solving at its core.

He joined ViewTrade as the first executive hire in Asia Pacific. Since then, the company’s regional footprint has grown significantly, with around 400 people globally and approximately USD 53 billion supported on the platform.

Why 24x5 Trading Matters

One of the biggest topics in the conversation is 24x5 trading, sometimes referred to as overnight trading.

Laksh sees it not simply as another trading session, but as an important layer of infrastructure. For investors outside the US, the ability to trade US markets during their local hours can be a major step toward better access and better outcomes.

He argues that criticism of overnight trading often comes from people looking at it through a US-centric lens. For someone sitting in the US, another trading session may not feel necessary. But for investors in Australia, Singapore, Thailand, or other markets across APAC, the context is different.

The question is not whether overnight trading looks like regular US market hours. The question is whether it gives international investors better access to the markets they already want to participate in.

Laksh points out that overnight trading volumes have grown from relatively small levels when the infrastructure first launched to billions of dollars in published trading volumes. For him, this shows that the market is already validating the need.

Tokenized Stocks and the Need to Ask Better Questions

The conversation then moves to tokenization and tokenized stocks.

Laksh separates the topic into three layers: tokenization as a technology, tokenization of stocks, and where the industry goes from there.

He sees tokenization as a powerful technology, especially for assets where value is broadly agreed upon and where bringing the asset onto an electronic platform creates clear efficiency. He gives the example of repo and reverse repo trades, where tokenization can add meaningful value by improving how interest and settlement are handled.

But when it comes to tokenized stocks, Laksh is more cautious.

His personal view is that a stock is already a tokenized representation of equity in a company. So before the industry rushes to tokenize stocks further, it needs to ask a more fundamental question: what problem are we actually solving?

If tokenization moves equities toward instant settlement, the infrastructure burden changes dramatically. Today, net settlement means only a small percentage of total trading value is actually settled each day. If everything moved to instant settlement, the amount of money that would need to move in real time could increase massively.

That raises practical questions around cost, rails, operations, and the actual customer benefit.

For Laksh, technology should not be adopted just because it is popular. If tokenized stocks solve a meaningful problem, the industry should pursue them. If the problem is not yet clear, it is acceptable to wait until the use case becomes stronger.

AI, Jobs, and the Decisioning Layer

AI is another major theme in the episode.

Laksh acknowledges that AI is not just hype. Every executive, whether in finance or another industry, is now asking the same question: how do we do more with less?

But he also frames the impact of AI in a useful way. In most businesses, there is a preparation layer and a decisioning layer.

The preparation layer includes research, drafting, data gathering, formatting, subtitles, summaries, and other work that helps people get to a decision. The decisioning layer is where judgment happens.

Laksh’s advice is simple: move to the decisioning layer as soon as you can.

If someone’s work is mostly preparation, they are more exposed to disruption. But if they can use AI to prepare faster and then apply judgment, context, and accountability, they become more valuable.

At ViewTrade, Laksh does not describe AI as a tool for reducing people. He describes it as a tool for expanding roles. For example, the company has built internal AI workflows that help teams spot compliance issues faster, transfer knowledge more effectively, and make the wider workforce more capable.

His view is that AI can help make everyone as smart as the smartest person in the firm, provided the systems are built carefully and responsibly.

Gen Z, Financial Services, and the Future of Wealth

The episode also explores how Gen Z may reshape financial services.

Laksh believes Gen Z has a major advantage, even if the current conversation often focuses on job disruption. They are digitally native, comfortable with platforms, and have very low tolerance for friction.

That matters both as employees and as future financial customers.

As workers, Gen Z can use AI to build, test, and create without waiting for traditional entry-level pathways. Laksh shares the example of a 16-year-old intern who built a trading application using AI and then came to ViewTrade to learn more.

As customers, Gen Z will push financial institutions to rethink their business models.

Laksh believes this generation will not tolerate businesses that make money while customers get poor outcomes. In financial services, access alone will not be enough. Institutions will need to focus on democratizing outcomes, not just democratizing access.

He uses buy now, pay later as an example. BNPL gave people access to credit, but in many markets, the outcome for some users was higher debt and financial stress. For Laksh, that is the difference between access and outcome.

The next generation will expect financial institutions to align with their success.

Why ViewTrade’s B2B Model Matters

ViewTrade’s position in the ecosystem is important to Laksh’s thinking.

The company is a B2B provider. It does not compete directly for the same end customer as its broker-dealer, fintech, or wealth management clients. Its success is tied to the success of the institutions it supports.

That alignment shapes how the company builds relationships, products, technology, and market infrastructure.

If ViewTrade’s customers do not succeed, ViewTrade does not succeed either.

For Laksh, this is a healthier and more sustainable model. It means the company is not chasing hype cycles just to raise another funding round. It can focus on customer outcomes, long-term trust, and solving real infrastructure problems.

Thailand, APAC, and Local Market Nuance

Laksh is careful not to describe APAC as one single market.

Each country has its own wealth behavior, tax structure, regulatory environment, technology maturity, customer expectations, and market history. A strategy that works in Australia may not work in Thailand. A solution for India IFSC may not apply directly to Singapore or Dubai.

For ViewTrade, the key question in each market is: can we make this ecosystem better?

In Thailand, Laksh says the company saw inefficiencies around tax processes and cross-border investment infrastructure. Rather than simply selling a product, ViewTrade worked with the industry to understand the deeper operational challenges.

One major step involved helping move forward the KYC approval process required to address certain US tax-related challenges for Thai investors and institutions. According to Laksh, this work can help put Thailand on a path toward significant cost savings for the industry.

The broader point is that solving local problems requires local understanding.

ViewTrade’s approach in Thailand includes working with local stakeholders, building relationships with existing vendors rather than simply trying to replace them, and hiring locally to support the market from within.

Trust as the Foundation of Financial Services

Toward the end of the conversation, Laksh returns to a principle that applies far beyond finance: businesses should be paid for delivering great outcomes to customers.

In financial services, this becomes even more important because the industry is built on trust.

A bank, broker, fintech, or wealth platform exists because customers trust it with their money, data, and financial future. Once that trust disappears, the institution’s position can unravel quickly.

For Laksh, every decision in a financial institution should be tested against one question: does this increase trust or create a trust deficit?

That question applies to technology, customer experience, regulation, business models, and partnerships.

Why the Future Is Bright for Finance in the Region

Despite the challenges, Laksh is optimistic about APAC and Southeast Asia.

He sees the region as young, dynamic, wealth-creating, and still early in its growth curve. Unlike more mature markets that may be focused on preserving wealth, this region is still building, expanding, and creating new financial behaviors.

AI will be a major enabler. Better infrastructure will open new possibilities. And as the next generation of customers and decision makers becomes more influential, financial institutions will need to adapt.

For ViewTrade, the opportunity is to be part of that growth by solving complex capital market infrastructure problems, supporting local ecosystems, and helping financial institutions deliver better outcomes to their customers.

The conversation with Laksh Gangwani is ultimately about more than fintech infrastructure. It is about trust, alignment, and the discipline to build technology around real customer outcomes rather than hype.