LUNO, Malaysia’s leading digital asset exchange, has recorded a new milestone of serving over one million customers, solidifying its position as the most trusted platform in the nation’s growing digital asset ecosystem.
Luno has also recorded a 32% growth in cumulative transaction volume from last year, bringing the total cumulative transaction volume on its platform to over RM87 bil in another clear sign of confidence in the growing crypto market.
At the Luno Insights event today (Dec 5), Luno highlighted several other achievements in the country, among them:
- Transaction milestones: 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.
- Asset growth: Assets under custody for both digital assets and ringgit have more than doubled to RM 4.28 bil from last year.
- Staking performance: Luno’s staking services experienced substantial take-up, with Ethereum (ETH) dominating at 55% of staking assets under custody, followed by Solana (SOL) at 25% and Cardano (ADA) at 20%.
- Popular cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Ethereum (ETH) emerged as the most traded and favoured cryptocurrencies among Luno users.
According to Luno country manager to Malaysia Scarlett Chai, 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 a diverse array of industries – manufacturing, construction, engineering and education sectors,” she remarked.
“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.”
In addition to these customer insight, Luno further revealed that it is the world’s first regulated digital asset exchange to offer Ethereum (ETH) staking that is certified Shariah-compliant.
Malaysia is now the first country in the world where Luno’s Shariah-compliant Ethereum Staking is available, assuring Malaysian Muslim investors that their investment is aligned with Islamic values.
The exchange also saw the launch of Luno Institutional, a service targeting institutional investors, professional traders, and fund managers, with advanced account setup to onboard multiple entities, as well as a dedicated account manager for customised solutions.
As the only digital asset exchange in the country to provide staking services, institutional investors and traders can leverage Luno’s industry-grade custody and deep liquidity via advanced API integration.
In the past 11 months, the industry has seen remarkable growth, starting with the landmark approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs by the U.S. SEC, which was followed by an influx of demand from institutional investors.
In April, Bitcoin Halving happened, where the reward for mining Bitcoin was cut in half. This automatic process lowers the supply of new bitcoins entering the market, which can act to raise the price if market conditions remain the same because of the rules of supply and demand.
Most recently, cryptocurrencies saw a surge in price following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incoming US administration has been widely known to be pro-crypto and pro-business, with several key individuals appointed stating their intention to support the US in becoming the crypto capital of the planet and accumulating a national stockpile of Bitcoin.
“These macroeconomic factors have contributed to doubling Bitcoin’s price since the start of 2024,” Luno general manager for Asia Pacific Aaron Tang pointed out.
“On January 1, 2024 Bitcoin was at RM198,911; shy of two weeks ago, Bitcoin set a new all-time high of RM438,466 on Luno.”
In November, CCData released the Exchange Benchmark November 2024, Luno was awarded Southeast Asia’s highest-rated exchange, scoring a BB grade.
CCData is the industry standard for ranking the risk associated with the digital asset exchange sector. Luno also received the highest transparency score among all exchanges reviewed globally.
“We are immensely proud of our role in Malaysia and the region – our global exposure has allowed us to work alongside regulators like the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia in growing the local digital assets industry,” Tang asserted.
“Our commitment to driving the industry forward has resulted in us spearheading 18 of the 19 approved digital assets.”
Meanwhile, Chai said this milestone underscores Luno’s commitment to providing Malaysians with a safe, transparent, and accessible platform for engaging in the world of cryptocurrencies.
“Our growth reflects not only the increasing interest in digital assets but also the trust that our users place in us,” she added. – Dec 5, 2024
