Contour Appoints Rahul Bhargava as Interim Chief Operating Officer

Contour Network has appointed Rahul Bhargava as Interim Chief Operating Officer, reinforcing management leadership as the platform enters its next phase of growth following its acquisition by XDC Ventures in Q4 2025.

Bhargava’s appointment signals a strategic acceleration phase for Contour as it expands beyond digitising Letters of Credit to building an integrated trade-to-settlement ecosystem. Under Bhargava’s leadership, Contour will vertically scale its proven LC digitisation platform while horizontally integrating XDC Network’s institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure to enable seamless reconciliation and downstream payment optionality.

He brings extensive experience in modernising cross-border financial systems, designing interoperability frameworks, and advancing global standards such as ISO 20022. His career spans leadership across banks, regulators, multilateral institutions, and payment infrastructures, uniquely positioning him to guide Contour through its next growth phase while ensuring regulatory alignment and production-grade implementation.

Ritesh Kakkad, Co-Founder of XDC Network and XDC Ventures, said: “Rahul’s expertise in bridging legacy financial infrastructure with emerging digital rails directly supports our vision of building a powerful institutional gateway for tokenised trade finance. With Contour, we are focused on delivering scalable, compliant solutions that connect trade digitisation with efficient settlement optionality.”

On the strategic significance of the appointment, Rahul Bhargava said, “I am excited to join Contour at this pivotal moment in Trade Finance evolution. By vertically scaling up Contour’s proven Trade digitisation services portfolio and horizontally extending to combine XDC Network capabilities we aim to deliver a future-ready, scalable platform helping streamline trade to settlement. A Stablecoin Lab will also be available to trial USDC based settlement models.”

As Interim COO, Bhargava will lead operational scale-up, deepen global member engagement, expand network participation, and oversee integration of XDC’s trade, digital asset, and settlement capabilities. This includes advancing Contour’s Stablecoin Lab as a structured innovation environment to trial regulated, production-ready digital settlement models alongside fiat rails.

About Contour Network

Contour Network is a Singapore-headquartered global digital trade-finance platform that digitizes letters of credit (LCs) and cross-border trade documentation. Contour delivers production-grade solutions designed to enhance speed, transparency, and trust across international trade workflows.

About XDC Network

XDC Network is an open-source, EVM-compatible Layer-1 blockchain built for payments, trade finance, and real-world assets, offering high throughput, low fees, and enterprise-grade security, while being ISO 20022–compliant to support interoperability with global financial messaging and payment systems. XDC Network underpins a growing ecosystem of regulated digital money, trade, and settlement solutions across the globe, supporting open account trade digitisation, MLETR, and Tradetrust verification of trade documents, payments settlement optionality in USDC via stablecoin wallets or as an intermediate settlement between bank accounts.