By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 11th, 2024
Having been in the crypto industry long enough to understand the perspective of the market, Digital Currency Group’s key attention to crypto exchanges is an indicator that the industry is growing immensely.
The blockchain investment firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) has today announced the acquisition of a retail-focused crypto exchange Luno that also supports its own crypto wallet. The investment firm is popular in the crypto industry being the owner of the media outlet, Coindesk. Besides, the firm has also invested in different crypto exchanges globally among other startups.
“We have invested in many retail businesses all over the world – including nearly two dozen exchanges,” said Mark Murphy, DCG’s chief operating officer. “But this is the first subsidiary that is a wallet and an exchange, which of course have large numbers of retail investors.”
According to a post published by Coindesk, the firm recently launched a new crypto mining division called Foundry.
From a future perspective, Murphy highlighted that the firm will shift its mode of investment. “But Luno intends to expand globally both organically and through acquisitions,” Murphy said. “We view this deal as a potential first step towards a ‘roll up’ strategy under Luno.”
Strategic Investment by Digital Currency Group in Luno
Having been in the crypto industry long enough to understand the perspective of the market, the firm’s key attention to crypto exchanges is an indicator that the industry is growing immensely.
Luno was initially based in Singapore before moving headquarters to London a couple of years later. Having been created back in 2013, it has managed to grow to a team of approximately 400 employees. Notably, it is a leading exchange in Africa, and a major player in South East Asia.
“We’ve known DCG for seven years,” said Luno co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel. “I can remember when we were five people in a room, and being on a call with Barry talking about the future of crypto and where the industry is going to go. So for seven years, we’ve been working together and having those conversations.”
Crypto adoption has grown exponentially especially fueled by the coronavirus pandemic that has motivated the use of digital transactions to reduce cash handling that is a key factor in covid-19 spread.
Luno has been involved in private funding that has seen it gather around $13.8 million. Swanepoel said the newly acquired crypto exchange is already in a strong financial position, and there have been “multiple people over the years trying to acquire the company.”
“I think after the announcement of Foundry two weeks ago, DCG is now touching every single type of thing, every single type of market,” Swanepoel said. “But two missing pieces were having a strong presence in frontier markets or emerging markets, and they didn’t have a retail business. So we kind of really filled the puzzle.”
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