Luno, Africa’s largest crypto platform, is shutting down its operations in Singapore, where it was first incorporated more than a decade ago.
The platform, founded by four South Africans, announced in an April 17 blog post that from June 20 its services will no longer be available in Singapore. Luno said its decision to exit Singapore would not affect its operations in other regions.
“This decision was made as part of a regular evaluation of our global strategy and presence,” said Luno said. “As a result of this decision, we have also informed the Monetary Authority of Singapore of our intention to withdraw our licence application.”
Luno said its withdrawal from Singapore means that from June 20 all Luno customer accounts in Singapore will be closed and they will no longer be able to log in or access accounts. Cryptocurrency still in wallets will be sold at the prevailing market price and stored in the form of Singapore dollars.
The platform said it reserves the right to charge a monthly dormant account fee for holding funds for customers after June 20. To facilitate smooth withdrawal, Luno recommends that customers withdraw all cryptocurrency and Singapore dollars from their wallets by June 19.
“We are privileged to have supported thousands of investors in Singapore on their crypto journey since 2016. We want to thank everyone who has entrusted us with their investments,” Luno said.
The Singapore exit comes after Luno initiated a retrenchment process in late January to lay off 35% of staff in all regions where it operates. The company also announced leadership changes in late March that will see co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel move to a new role as executive chair and COO James Lanigan replace him as the new CEO.
Swanepoel and fellow South Africans Tim Stranex, Carel van Wyk and Francois Paul founded Luno. It was incorporated in Singapore in 2012 before launched the next year.
Lanigan said that the decision to exit Singapore was not made lightly and was in the making since the beginning of the year.
“Luno is looking to streamline our resources towards other markets, such as SA, to continue to lay a strong and sustainable foundation for the business,” he said.
The changes at Luno come after parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), which acquired it in 2020 from investors that included Naspers and Rand Merchant Investment (RMI), continues to suffer effects of the steep drop in crypto prices in 2022, coupled with bankruptcies and scandals that sent the digital token sector into what some call a “crypto winter”.
DCG, the world’s largest blockchain investor, posted a $1.1bn loss in 2022 after crypto prices plunged and the lending arm of one of its investee companies, Genesis Global Capital, froze customer accounts in November before filing for bankruptcy protection in January.
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