Founder · ZaroVerse Ltd (BVI Company 2183451)
Shihab Khalil
Founder & CEO of ZagTrader. 25+ years in financial technology. Funds the ZARO project personally.
Shihab Khalil founded ZaroVerse Ltd in August 2025. The British Virgin Islands company is the publisher behind the ZARO Coin on-chain artifact and the broader ZaroVerse entertainment universe.
In 2009, he founded ZagTrader — an institutional fintech platform that has been in production for 17+ years, serving more than 100 institutions globally with order management, trading, risk, custody, and reporting infrastructure across 25+ regulated markets. Clients include Emirates Investment Bank, Dubai Financial Market, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Housing Bank, Finance House, ADSS, and Copper. A recent long-form interview is available on From Code to C-Suite.
ZagTrader is operationally and legally separate from ZaroVerse Ltd. The institutional B2B business is unaffected by ZaroVerse activities; ZaroVerse derives no revenue from ZagTrader.
Education: MBA from New York Institute of Technology; LLM in International Law and Global Leadership from Aristotle University; background in software and computer engineering. The ZARO project is funded personally — there is no investor pool, no token sale, no VC. The company has not raised capital and is not raising capital.
ZagTrader at a glance
An institutional fintech platform in continuous production since 2009.
17+
years in production
Founded 2009
100+
institutional clients
Banks, brokers, exchanges
$500B+
in assets served
Across client portfolios
5M+
daily transactions
Through the platform
25+
regulated markets
Coverage worldwide
Selected institutional clients
What the founder does not have
The renounced contract and locked liquidity apply to the founder equally:
- ×Admin keys to the ZARO contract (renounced — owner is the zero address)
- ×Ability to mint new tokens (no mint function accessible to any human key)
- ×Power to pause, blacklist, or change balances
- ×An unlocked LP position (300M ZARO + 6 ETH locked 255 years via UNCX)
- ×Any privileged trading position not visible to the public
- ×Control over price (markets are third-party DEXes with no company involvement)
December 2025
In December 2025, the founder's wallet and a portion of the company treasury were compromised through malware. The buyback that followed was funded from personal capital.
Connect
For press and company inquiries, see the press page.
Background: Software & computer engineer. 25+ years in financial technology.
Education: MBA, NYIT. LLM in International Law & Global Leadership, Aristotle University.
ZagTrader: Founder & CEO since 2009. Operationally separate from ZaroVerse Ltd.
ZaroVerse Ltd: BVI Company No. 2183451. Incorporated August 1, 2025.