Compliance Without Borders: Building a Global Crypto Framework

In this episode of Compliance Champions, Delphine Forma, Head of Policy Europe at Solidus Labs, speaks with Johan Hetzel, Global Head of Compliance & Anti-Financial Crime at Luno — a leading crypto exchange operating across Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia. They explore the practical realities of scaling compliance across multiple jurisdictions — from the principle-based framework in South Africa to the more prescriptive rules in Malaysia — and how firms design global standards while allowing for local adaptation. Johan shares his approach to building trade surveillance programmes, managing the tension between compliance and engineering priorities, and tackling some of the industry's most debated challenges: travel rule implementation and unhosted wallet treatment. The conversation also covers the growing role of AI in financial crime detection — where it genuinely helps and where the risks lie — as well as what compliance leaders should prioritise when everything feels urgent and resources are never enough. A candid, experience-driven conversation offering a rare practitioner's view into what global compliance leadership in crypto actually looks like.