Luno (cryptocurrency company)

Luno (formerly BitX) is a licensed financial services provider and cryptocurrency company in South Africa that is focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum. The company was founded by four South Africans, Timothy Stranex, Carel van Wyk, Marcus Swanepoel and Pieter Heyns and registered and headquartered (initially) in Singapore in 2013.
Market Penetration
Although Sub-Saharan Africa is a relatively small crypto currency market, spending (and not only trading) bitcoin is possible and increasingly common, using various transaction services, known as crypto asset service providers (CASP). These services permit shopping through vouchers and over 30 000 merchants accept crypto payments. LunoPay is the largest of 138 CASP, and can be used at Pick n Pay stores Luno has other operations in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Australia.
Scaling Up
In 2020, Luno was acquired by the Digital Currency Group, and in October 2022 the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) declared crypto assets a financial product,.
In 2022, Luno Expeditions was launched and in 2023, Luno announced that they had passed the 12 million customers milestone.
In 2023, Luno also announced that over a third of their workforce would be retrenched and on the 30 April 2024 Luno received a financial services provider licence from the FSCA to operate as a licensed crypto provider.
Media and Bubbles
Media coverage about bitcoin increases trading volumes, amplifies irrationality among investors and this can lead and encourage the growth of an asset bubble,

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