Luno grows by a million users in a year and expands its offering

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DURBAN – Luno, a South African cryptocurrency exchange, now has 3 million customers (wallets) spanning 40 countries. Marius Reitz, Luno’s GM: Africa, said that despite Bitcoin’s volatility, cryptocurrency trades continue to rise. "In the last month, more than R80 million worth of cryptocurrency trades have been completed on Luno’s South African platform on a daily basis," said Reitz. Luno was founded in 2013 by two South Africans Marcus Swanepoel, a former investment banker, and Timothy Stranex, who previously worked for Google as a software engineer. Currently the company is headquartered in London and has more than 300 employees across offices in South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Singapore. "South Africa is one of our strongest markets and appetite for cryptocurrency trades is still growing – we are seeing new Luno customers learning about and buying cryptocurrencies every day. Reaching three million wallets demonstrates the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies across the globe and reinforces our aim of reimagining a financial system where money is cheaper, faster and safer with open and equal access for everyone," said Reitz.

Bitcoin Cash

The recently launched Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on its exchange, which enables Luno customers to buy, sell and store BCH on the platform. A number of customers have already activated this particular wallet. Additional coins will be added later this year.

Luno has had the functionality to support Bitcoin Cash since 2017, so they were comfortable that the Luno platform could easily accommodate another coin. Luno is also comfortable that Bitcoin Cash meets their criteria for how they assess new coins or assets, including factors like the team and tech behind it, their security, utility, market traction and customer demand

Higher liquidity

Luno boasts significantly higher liquidity than any other exchanges. Reitz explains why this matters: "An increasing number of customers are looking to buy and sell cryptocurrency on Luno. It’s therefore important to consider the liquidity on the exchange, which refers to the volume of cryptocurrency being traded. In turn, the volume of trades results in a narrowing between the asking price and eventual purchase price of coins. Cryptocurrencies are increasingly seen as an alternative investment option and this is one of the most popular use cases".

The business has scaled due to the simplicity of its online and mobile platforms, offering education, bank-grade security and self-regulation, and is actively working with regulators and banks to safely increase access to cryptocurrencies.

BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE