Luno Malaysia to expand range of offerings, new product out by early 2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Luno, Malaysia’s leading digital asset exchange, is working with regulators to expand the range of digital currencies available on its platform and is poised to unveil a new digital product by early next year.

Country manager for Malaysia Scarlett Chai said Luno is optimistic about the Malaysian market, which has already achieved one million customers.

“We are very optimistic about the Malaysian market. We see Malaysia as a country that has the potential to grow digital assets,” she told reporters in a media briefing today.

Chai said Luno adheres to Securities Commission Malaysia guidelines and periodically meets with the regulator to discuss the exchange’s products and services.

In addition to the one million customers milestone, Luno has recorded 32% growth in cumulative transaction volume from last year, bringing its platform’s total cumulative transaction volume to over RM87 billion, another clear sign of confidence in the growing crypto market.

Further, Luno has processed more than 72 million transactions in total, encompassing the depositing and withdrawing of ringgit and the sending and receiving of digital assets.

Luno’s assets under custody for both digital and ringgit have more than doubled to RM4.28 billion from last year.

The digital exchange’s staking services experienced substantial take-up, with Ethereum dominating at 55% of staking assets under custody, followed by Solana at 25% and Cardano at 20%. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ripple, Solana and Ethereum have emerged as the most traded and favoured cryptocurrencies among Luno users.

“Malaysians are increasingly viewing digital assets like cryptocurrencies as a means of diversifying their investment portfolio. This is across all age and income groups, with the average investor aged 34.8 and a median deposit of RM100.

“Our customers also came from diverse industries – manufacturing, construction, engineering and education sectors. In an encouraging development for gender parity in the industry, we also saw a 17% increase in female customers this year, compared with a 14% increase in male customers,” Chai said.

Luno is the world’s first regulated digital asset exchange to offer syariah-compliant Ethereum staking, highlighting its commitment to customer needs. Malaysia is the first country globally where this service is available, providing assurance to Muslim investors that their investments align with Islamic principles.

In addition, Luno has introduced Luno Institutional, a service designed for institutional investors, professional traders and fund managers. This offering includes advanced account setup for managing multiple entities and access to a dedicated account manager for tailored solutions.

Cryptocurrencies saw a surge in price following Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House. The incoming US administration has been widely known to be pro-crypto and pro-business. Several individuals nominated to key positions have stated their intention to support the US in becoming the crypto capital of the planet and accumulating a national stockpile of Bitcoin.

Luno’s general manager for Asia-Pacific, Aaron Tang, said these macroeconomic factors have contributed to doubling Bitcoin’s price since the start of 2024.

“On Jan 1, 2024, Bitcoin was at RM198,911. Shy of two weeks ago, Bitcoin set a new all-time high of RM438,466 on Luno.

“We are proud of our role in Malaysia and the region – our global exposure has allowed us to work alongside regulators like the Securities Commission and Bank Negara Malaysia in growing the local digital assets industry. Our commitment to driving the industry forward has resulted in us spearheading 18 of the 19 approved digital assets,” Tang said.