Luno (company)

Luno
Type of site
 bitcoin
Available in 40 countries
Founded 2013
Headquarters London
Products Bitcoin exchange, Bitcoin wallet service and Bitcoin API.
Website Official website
Users 2 million

LUNO (formerly BitX[1]) is a Bitcoin company headquartered in London with operations in Indonesia,[2] Malaysia,[3] Nigeria,[4] South Africa, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and 35 other European countries.[5][6][7][8][9]

Luno facilitates Bitcoin storage and transactions such as buying, selling and paying through their Bitcoin wallet services. Luno is SegWit integrated.[10] They also operate exchanges between fiat money and bitcoin.[11] Since November 2017, Luno has also supported Ethereum.[10][12][13]

At the start of 2018, Luno announced they had reached nearly 2 million customers and processed over $5 billion.[14] They aim to reach 1 billion customers.[15] They are pro-regulation.[16]

History

2013-2015

Luno was founded in 2013 and the exchange was set up up by Timothy Stranex. Stranex is a BSc graduate from the University of Cape Town. He began his career as a software engineer at Google in Switzerland. He worked on Google Maps during his four years at the company, while also completing an MSc in theoretical physics from the University of Zürich.[17] Stranex first heard about bitcoin in late 2012, when it made headlines for reaching "bubble" prices of around US$15. "Initially I ignored it, but after hearing about it a few times, I dug deeper, read about how it worked and tested my first transactions. I was fascinated by the concept and the early community, and wanted to be involved." [17] Stranex was joined by the other founders, Carel van Wyk, Marcus Swanepoel, and Pieter Heyns.[18][19]

Swanepoel, a chartered accountant and CFA charterholder had returned to Cape Town via Palo Alto after working for Standard Chartered and private equity firm 3i in Singapore and London for six years. In Cape Town he met fellow rocket scientists.Van Wyk, who holds an MSc focused on augmented reality and Heyns, a CA with a passion for tech start-ups.[20]

They launched 'Switchless' specifically for business-to-business clients, and a South African company was one of the earliest clients. The company established its operations in Cape Town to accommodate the client, and quickly grew from there. “[However], we quickly realised two things: one, the banks were going to be moving very slow in this space; and two, there was a lot of misconceptions around what the technology could or could not do."[14]

As the first South African exchange, they remain popular in countries where others are not available.[21]

Luno and PayFast facilitated one of the first crypto-currency integrations into a payment processor in the world.[22]

2016

In 2016, Luno took part in the FCA Sandbox programme.[23] This allows businesses to test financial products with regulatory supervision.[24]

2017

In 2017, Luno launched Ethereum wallets[25] and exchange,[26] explaining on their website that ‘Whereas Bitcoin is still the first and largest decentralised digital currency used as a store of value and a means of payment, Ethereum is the largest decentralised application network. There have been positive developments in the space and a big demand from our customers to add Ethereum support.’[27]

Luno also launched in more European countries, bringing the total to over 40.[28]

Prior to the Bitcoin Cash fork, Luno announced they would allow for withdrawals, if the network proved secure. Following the fork and once Bitcoin Cash attained non-trivial value, Luno allowed customers to withdraw it.[29]

Luno did not support the Bitcoin Gold fork, citing a lack of security in the network and suspicious activity. Bitcoin Gold was later hit by a 51% attack.[30]

In February 2017, Luno introduced volume based fees for their exchange.[31] In June 2017, they launched a mobile help centre.[32]

2018

In 2018, Luno integrated with SegWit to reduce fees for sending and receiving Bitcoin.[33]

Luno is available in 40 countries across Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.[34][35]

Luno won the Tech5 award for the UK's fastest growing tech company of 2018.[10]

In April 2018, Luno registered itself with the bank Negara Malaysia as a reporting body for the digital currencies.[36]

Products

Luno offers a consumer Bitcoin wallet for Bitcoin transactions and storage. They offer exchange services (buying and selling Bitcoin) in 40 countries[37] and an API[38] for developers to build Bitcoin applications.

Funding

Luno completed an SGD $1m (USD $824,000) seed funding round in 2014, raised USD $4m in Series A funding, led by Naspers[39] with additional funding by the Digital Currency Group and Venturra, in 2015 and completed a USD $9m Series B round, led by Balderton Capital with additional funding by Rand Merchant Investment Holdings and the Digital Currency Group. In September 2017, Luno raised $9 million[40] in order to introduce its bitcoin wallet, exchange and services in Europe.[41][42][43]

References

  1. ↑ "SA-founded bitcoin company BitX rebranded as Luno". Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  2. ↑ Cosseboom, Leighton (4 February 2015). "Indonesian Bitcoin startups must now compete with BitX". Tech in Asia.
  3. ↑ Southurst, Jon (4 November 2014). "BitX Opens Feature-Rich Bitcoin Exchange in Malaysia". CoinDesk.
  4. ↑ Fadoju, Lulu (7 July 2014). "Bitcoin Company, BitX Launches In Nigeria". TechCabal. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "$9 Million: Bitcoin Startup Luno Completes Series B Funding - CoinDesk". CoinDesk. 2017-09-19. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  6. ↑ "UK FCA Sandbox announcement". Luno. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  7. ↑ Jackson, Tom (10 March 2015). "Could Bitcoin ease the pain of Africa's migrant workforce?". BBC.
  8. ↑ "Bitcoin for the poor". The Economist. 11 June 2014.
  9. ↑ "BitX presence and country support".
  10. 1 2 3
  11. ↑ Realini, Carol (14 July 2015). Financial Inclusion at the Bottom of the Pyramid. FriesenPress. p. 188. ISBN 9781460265529.
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ "Luno now supports Ethereum in South Africa". Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  14. 1 2 "Every day R60 million flows through this cryptocurrency wallet – based in Cape Town". www.businessinsider.co.za. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  15. ↑ Garg, Priyeshu (2018-02-16). "Africa's Oldest And Most Popular Cryptocurrency Exchange Eyes 1 Billion Users | BTCMANAGER". BTCMANAGER. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  16. ↑ Moyo, ITWeb, Admire (2018-02-14). "Bring on regulation, say SA fintech players". ITWeb. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  17. 1 2 "ENTREPRENEUR: Co-founder of SA's first bitcoin wallet Timothy Stranex". Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  18. ↑ "Luno | Crunchbase". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  19. ↑ "ENTREPRENEUR: Co-founder of SA's first bitcoin wallet Timothy Stranex". Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  20. ↑ "Luno: To the moon and beyond". Moneyweb. 2017-02-08. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  21. ↑ "A Review of London based Cryptocurrency Exchange, Luno". invezz.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  22. ↑ Eaton, Jessica. "South Africa's PayFast Incorporates Bitcoin as Payment Option". Wall Street Journal.
  23. ↑ "UK FCA Sandbox announcement". Luno. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  24. ↑ "Regulatory sandbox". FCA. 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  25. ↑ "Luno Launches Ether Trading In 40 Countries Across Europe, Asia And Africa". Coinjournal. 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  26. ↑ "Ethereum exchange to launch on Luno". Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  27. ↑ "Ethereum now available on Luno". Luno. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  28. ↑ "Luno expands to 35 new markets; announcing Series B round". Luno. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  29. ↑ "Bitcoin Cash fork". Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  30. ↑ "Bitcoin Spinoff Hacked in Rare '51% Attack'". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  31. ↑ "Introducing Volume-Based Exchange Fees". Luno. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  32. ↑ "Our new mobile Help Centre". Luno. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  33. ↑ "SegWit: Luno's New Software that Will Curb Bitcoin Transaction Fees | The Market Mogul". themarketmogul.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  34. ↑ "Luno Launches Ether Trading In 40 Countries Across Europe, Asia And Africa". News Doses. 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  35. ↑ "Bitcoin trading & exchange fees | Luno". Luno. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  36. ↑ "Luno registers with Bank Negara as reporting body for digital currencies - Business News | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  37. ↑ "Luno Exchange".
  38. ↑ "Luno API".
  39. ↑ "Luno expands to 35 new markets; announcing Series B round". www.naspers.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  40. ↑ "Luno raises $9M to bring its bitcoin wallet, exchange and services to Europe – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  41. ↑ "Luno - Investors | Crunchbase". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  42. ↑ "Luno". angel.co. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  43. ↑ "Luno Company Profile: Valuation & Investors | PitchBook". pitchbook.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
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