Bhaji Illuminati named CEO; Anil Sood named Chief Strategy and Growth Officer

Centrifuge, the pioneering force in real-world asset tokenization since 2017, today announced key leadership appointments to accelerate its mission of reshaping global finance. The strategic leadership transition positions the company to capitalize on the growing institutional adoption of blockchain-powered markets, with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) projecting a $16 trillion RWA opportunity by 2030.

Bhaji Illuminati has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Centrifuge co-founder Lucas Vogelsang after his successful seven-year tenure at the helm. Lucas will transition to a strategic board position. Bhaji, who served as Interim CEO since July 2024 and previously as Chief Marketing Officer since February 2023, brings extensive experience creating categories, building teams, and scaling marketplace tech companies from 0 to over a million users. Her track record includes leading successful go-to-market strategies at Dragonboat, Surkus, Social Native, and Taulia, where she drove significant adoption and market expansion in fintech, software, and marketplace applications.

"Tokenizing real-world assets represents one of the most significant shifts happening in financial markets today," said Bhaji. "Centrifuge is uniquely positioned to bridge traditional finance and crypto technology, delivering scalable solutions that meet the sophisticated needs of institutional partners."

Centrifuge also announced the appointment of Anil Sood as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer. Anil co-founded the onchain asset manager, Anemoy and was instrumental in launching its first fund, the Janus Henderson Anemoy Treasury Fund (JTRSY, formerly Anemoy Liquid Treasury Fund). A recognized leader in ETFs, Capital Markets & Asset Management, Anil brings deep expertise in crypto and financial innovation. Anil previously founded NBRHD Capital, a digitally native asset management firm offering curated tokenized investment opportunities (acquired). Anil has built and ran several institutional ETF market making franchises including Knight Capital and Cantor Fitzgerald; where he was a partner. Anil has also held roles at Goldman and Barcap, as part of the Algorithmic Trading Group.

"Tokenization is at an inflection point," said Anil. "I’m excited to join Centrifuge to transform from an infrastructure builder to ecosystem catalyst—empowering institutions to unlock liquidity, efficiency, and transparency at unprecedented scale."

The complete executive leadership team comprises:

• Bhaji Illuminati, Chief Executive Officer

• Martin Quensel, President

• Anil Sood, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer

• Jeroen Offerijns, Chief Technology Officer

• Eli Cohen, Chief Legal Officer

Since its founding in 2017, Centrifuge has established itself as a leader in the RWA space, having deployed $663M in total assets financed and tokenized 1,585 assets across multiple chains including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum and Celo. The company has built strategic partnerships with DeFi leaders like Sky (formerly Maker), Aave and Mopho, as well as institutional partners including Janus Henderson, the $360 billion asset manager that selected Centrifuge for its tokenization strategy.