Cryptocurrency platform, Luno, has announced that it has reached a milestone of 7 million customers worldwide, registering a 60% increase in the number of app installs and over 300% Y-o-Y growth compared to December 2020.
In 2020, Luno’s customer base in Africa grew by 2.3 million to 4.7 million between January 2020 and January 2021. New app installs of the company’s app across the continent have also surged by 271% alongside its trading volume in Africa.
The crypto industry has experienced a steady growth, heavily spurred by the entrance of institutional investors adopting bitcoin due to its store of value properties. The asset, which has become renowned as digital gold, has become more attractive to investors amidst inflation concerns as a result of increased fiscal and monetary stimulus.
Over the last few years, infrastructure in parts of the world that could not previously support the crypto market has improved substantially. In 2020 alone, Luno provided 1.1 million Asians access to the crypto markets, growing its Asian customer base by 300,000.
Since Luno’s acquisition by Digital Currency Group (DCG) in September of 2020, the company has seen the number of active users increase by 167%, whilst the number of app installs has increased 119%. As of the 25th of January, the average Luno user held over Ksh. 747,600 ($7,000) in their wallet, up 56% from the 30th December 2020. Additionally, Luno was ranked in the top six cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide in the latest CryptoCompare Exchange Benchmark, whilst also receiving the top tier AA rating.
Founded in 2013 by Marcus Swanepoel, a former investment banker, and Timothy Stranex, who previously worked for Google as a software engineer. Today the company is headquartered in London and has nearly 400 employees across offices in London, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Singapore with customers in 40 countries globally, with over 10% growth in staff numbers since March 2020.
Marcus Swanepoel, CEO and Co-Founder of Luno says, “The past twelve months has hastened the adoption of crypto globally. While a lot of the press has been around institutional adoption, behind all the headlines retail adoption has been growing at an arguably even more fanatic pace. The pandemic has exacerbated the need for digital currencies, and here at Luno, our mission is not only to help educate people about cryptocurrencies and how to use them today, but in the long run leverage the power of this technology to upgrade the world to a better financial system.”