South African crypto platform, Luno crosses 10million users
South African Crypto platform, Luno announced on Wednesday that it has onboarded 10 million users across 40 countries into its platform.
Founded by Marcus Swanepoel and Timothy Stranex in 2013, Luno said it has enabled over $52 billion worth of crypto transactions, and its customers have stored in excess of $1 billion worth of crypto. It’s currently available in 40 countries including South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Singapore.
Africa is one of Luno’s strongest markets; over 55% of the new customers added in the last 6 months are based on the continent. The company also recorded that, on average, Africans deposit $53 when they open their account and tend to hold for 7 months.
The milestone is coming barely a month after the company launched Luno Expeditions, its global and early-stage investment arm to support fintech and crypto/web3 founders.
Marius Reitz, Luno’s General Manager for Africa, said: “We’re thrilled that our customers have helped us achieve this huge milestone. Today’s announcement is testament to the enormous appetite for crypto that still remains on the continent, despite the industry’s challenges over the last year. As we move forward, we want to continue equipping our customers in Africa with the confidence and guidelines they need to safely invest in cryptocurrencies.”
Luno said it has also added more mainstream crypto—chainlink (LINK) and uniswap (UNI)—to its platform, giving its users more options other than bitcoin and ethereum. The company said it continues to forge strategic partnerships and expansions to drive its growth and today.
Besides its London headquarters, it has 5 more regional offices in its key markets—South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Singapore. Luno was acquired in 2020 by the Digital Currency Group, the world’s largest blockchain investor, which also owns Grayscale and CoinDesk. Now, its overarching plan is to increase its global customer growth, which is currently at 35% year-on-year.
“The number of people using crypto worldwide is expected to grow as global markets gain better access to the crypto ecosystem,” said Swanepoel. “Our mission is to put the power of crypto in everyone’s hands, and reaching the major milestone of 10 million customers shows we are leading the way in this transition towards building a better, fairer financial system for the world.”