What is luno.com? In what ways is it serving its customers? Should you switch to it or should you keep off from it? Let us find out about all that and more in today’s review. Here are the main highlights of the review:
- What is Luno.com?
- The services offered by Luno
- How is the trading platform on Luno like?
- What can you expect from Luno’s brokerage service?
- What is offered via the Luno Mobile wallet?
- Luno for Business: What is It?
- The currencies and payment methods that Luno supports
- The fees charged on Luno
- Is Luno Legit or a Scam?
- Pros and Cons
Name of the platform: Luno
Official Website URL: https://www.luno.com/en/
Overall Rating: (2.8 / 5)
Recommended: Not Recommended
What is luno.com?
Luno is a well-recognized crypto exchange whose main agenda is to serve customers in the developing nations. Customers who are currently living in countries such as Indonesia, Zambia, and South Africa are some of the main beneficiaries of the services that Luno is offering.
Luno was established in 2013, and was at the time known as BitX. The platform was then rebranded to Luno in 2016. So far, the owners of the company have managed to build 3 global offices, from which the main activities are run. These offices are located in Cape Town ( South Africa), London, Singapore.
As of now, Luno has 3 million+ customers who live in more than 40 countries in which the platform is supported. More than 100 employees are tasked with seeing to it that the operations are ran with the desired effectiveness.
The services offered by Luno
Luno’s are at the moment limited to:
- Crypto trading
- Brokerage
- Crypto wallet
- API access for the developers
With a Luno account, you can access these services via a very simple dashboard, that lets you interact with features such as the instant but and sell services and account reports.
How is the trading platform on Luno like?
Luno has a crypto to fiat platform that customers can rely on if they want to trade. The main features on the trading platform include:
- Charting
- Depth reporting
- Several indicators
- API access
The trading volume on Luno is relatively small, in comparison to the volumes recorded for the well-developed platforms. The well-established platforms serve customers in the already developed markets which have more tech-savvy customers.
What can you expect from Luno’s brokerage service?
Luno’s instant buy and sell brokerage service presents customers with an easy way to purchase and sell cryptos without having to go through a complicated trading platform.
Customers have an easy time purchasing the tokens since they are offered by Luno directly to them. They only charge a premium fee for the access of the cryptos. The fees for each transaction vary widely. Each country that Luno operates in has its unique currency, and each customer has different trading needs. This means that each transaction is bound to have different fees at the end of the day.
What is offered via the Luno Mobile wallet?
You can download the custodial Crypto wallet on your Ios or Android smartphone and pair it up with your existing Luno account. With either app, you are promised greater flexibility to account your Luno account on the go. You, unfortunately, do not have any control over the cryptos in the app, since theuy are held by Luno. You cannot also access the private keys, which is quite limiting, moreso for those who are out to send or receive, and transact with the cryptos on the go.
Luno for Business: What is It?
This is Luno’s premium service that enables customers to transact, trade and store various tokens for their companies with ease. The service is designed to make work easier for those people who are tasked with trading for their companies, the large scale BTC miners, and the startups that are planning to receive or send payments in the form of cryptos.
The currencies and payment methods that Luno supports
Luno supports th buying and selling of the following tokens:
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Litecoin
- Ripple
- Bitcoin Cash
The fiat currencies accepted on the platform are:
- British Pound – GBP
- Malaysian Ringgit – MYR
- Nigerian Naira- NGN
- Polish Zloty – PLN
- South African Rand – ZAR
- Ugandan Shilling – UGX
- Zambian Kwacha – ZMW
- Euro – EUR
- Indonesian Rupiah – IDR
Customers who want to buy cryptocurrencies on Luno can pay for them using:
- Flutterwave – NGN
- Paystack – NGN
- Interbank Giro – MYR
- Bank Transfer- IDR & NGN
- Cash Deposits Penalty – ZAR
- IDeal – EUR
- Sofort – EUR
- EFT- ZAR
- Debit and Credit cards – EUR
- SEPA- EUR
If you use a credit or debit card to deposit EUROs to your Luno account, then you will be lucky enough not to incur any costs. The other payment platforms will charge you a fee close to 5% of the amount being transacted.
The fees charged on Luno
Luno charges fees for the use of the platform, in the following ways:
- Deposit fees
- Transaction fees
- Withdrawal fees
- Fees on the sending and receiving of cryptos to other addresses
Luno’s transaction fees are based on a taker maker fee schedule. Makers do not get charged any fees, but takers are charged fees ranging between 0.25% to 1%, depending on their currency of choice.
The other fees are bound to vary from customer to customer, depending on the amount being transacted and the country in which they are living in.
Is Luno Legit or a Scam?
In my fair assessment of things, Luno is a legit platform that is out to serve people living in developing nations such as a Zambia, South Africa, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Indonesia. The platform is, however, also accessible in the European nations below:
Austria, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary.
How reliable is Luno? The customer reviews so far point to Luno being a below average platform. A close look at the current ratings on Trustpilot (opens in new window) show that customers are not impressed with the way they are being treated.
I would not be very quick to recommend Luno, but would suggest the platform below for those who still want to sign up for a reliable exchange.
==> Here’s a better alternative you can try out <==
Pros and Cons
Pros
- An easy to use interface
- Supported in the developing countries
- Well known in many countries
Cons
- It has a custodial wallet – very limiting
- The fees structure is not very definite
Final Words and Verdict
Verdict: Legit. Not Recommended though
Overall Rating: (2.8 / 5)
Luno.com offers a simple exchange platform to its customers, and mainly those in the developing nations. I think it is a decent platform with legit services, though I’d not be quite to recommend it following the poor customer ratings. My recommended alternative to Luno has better features and is one that I have tried, tested, and found to be reliable.
My #1 Recommended Alternative To Luno
There you have it with my review about what luno.com is all about. Do you have any questions or comments about it? You can leave them in the comments section- I will respond to them as soon as I can. That is all for today’s review!
I wish you success,
Eric, investor, and team member on Gold Retired!