Luno is a simple-to-use cryptocurrency exchange that offers a limited, but well-delivered range of services in a trusted, reliable, and secure fashion.

Luno is geared-towards newer users in the crypto market, with attractive and easy-to-use interfaces, as well as a wide range of knowledge and support services. Luno also offers some of the most competitive fee structures in the industry, reinforcing this focus on accessibility and functionality.

That said, with a limited number of supported countries and only 2 supported cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency investors will need to open an additional account with another exchange to access the full crypto market (Read our ‘Best Cryptocurrency Exchange‘ guide to see our top 10 recommendations). Despite this, Luno does offer an advanced trading platform to work with for those who want to trade ETH and BTC.

Luno will appeal most to people who want a simple interface for performing fiat-to-crypto trades that involve major cryptocurrencies (ETH & BTC) and fiat currencies from Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

If it sounds like Luno might be the best Bitcoin exchange for your needs, then please read on to find out more.

This review will cover the quick facts about Luno, its distinguishing features, its verification process, its fee schedule and will provide a quick pros and cons summary of what we have learned.

Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to decide if it’s worth your time to investigate Luno further.

Quick Facts

Cryptocurrency exchanges tend to come in a lot of different shapes and sizes, and Luno is no exception.

Luno presents itself as a secure place for people to buy, sell, and store Bitcoin and Ethereum, and also has a surprisingly advanced trading platform. So how is it different from industry leaders like Coinbase, Binance, FTX etc?

However, overall Luno’s best features are its functionality and the cost savings it offers to cryptocurrency users from its supported countries.

Low Fees Overall

Easily the best feature of Luno is its commitment to low fees in general.

Many deposit and withdrawal options are free, with only a nominal charge on the rest.

Luno’s transaction fees are also very competitive, with 0% maker fees for all currency pairs.

Anyone looking to transact in Bitcoin and Ethereum without having to worry about fees will be well-served by Luno, particularly those users looking to avoid the often high industry standard credit card fees out there.

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Major African and Southeast Asian Fiat Currencies Supported

While almost all fiat currencies can be used on modern crypto exchanges, they generally need to be converted to a major currency, such as the USD or EUR, before they can be deposited and traded.

This means you have to pay the conversion fees with your payment providers on top of the fees the exchange charges itself.

However, Luno offers a range of major fiat currencies from Southeast Asia and Africa (ZAR, IDR, MYR, and NGN) which allows users from these populous nations to transact and trade in their own currency, and hence, avoid the conversions fees they would encounter with most other exchanges.

Relaxed Verification Restrictions

Luno lets users transact strictly in crypto with no identity documents required for its lowest level of verification, and even lets users from a small number of countries trade small amounts of crypto at this level.

While users who want to trade significant amounts of crypto will still need to meet industry standards of verification, this first level of access is helpful for people who only need to transact in small amounts of fiat currency or in strictly crypto transactions.

Registration and Verification

Luno’s verification process is slightly more relaxed than the current industry standard, allowing some users to buy and sell a small amount of crypto based only on account confirmation through a mobile device and the submission of some personal details without identity document verification.

This is in contrast to the growing trend among crypto exchanges that require identity document verification before any fiat currencies can be deposited and withdrawn or digital assets bought and sold. Which is increasing more and more today.

In addition, this first verification level is also adequate for people from both supported and unsupported countries to send, receive and transact with Bitcoin and Ethereum using their Luno wallet.

For the higher daily and monthly limits, users need to reach the second verification level by supplying a photo of their identification document and a selfie. This second verification level will increase the daily and monthly maximums slightly.

To get the industry standard daily and monthly deposit and withdrawal maximums for their account, users must undertake the third level of verification. This third verification level at Luno requires the photo of a proof of address.

The Luno daily and monthly maximums for this third level of verification are around what most exchanges will offer for both identification document and proof of address verification. Some exchanges will offer higher daily and monthly limits or unlimited accounts with income and asset verification, but Luno does not currently offer this higher level of verification.

Luno has a quite extensive deposit and withdrawal fee schedule based on the supported country that ranges from the best in the industry for almost all options to among the worst for one single option. However, overall the deposit and withdrawal fees are very competitive.

Luno’s transaction fees are also more complicated than most exchanges, being based on 30d volume and the fiat currency pairing. The Luno market maker fees are some of the best in the industry, while the market taker fees range from decent to very good.

Transaction Fees

Transaction fees at Luno follow a maker/taker model.

Market maker fees are a flat zero across all trading pairs, while they vary from 0.2% to 1% for market takers based on the fiat currency pairing and your 30d trading volume.

Even the high end of 1% is a decent transaction fee by industry standards, though far from the best, and the low end of 0.2% to 0.25% is very good.

Credit Card Fees

While only available for deposits in Euro (EUR) and Nigerian Naira (NGN), Luno’s credit card fees are extremely competitive at zero for EUR and 1.58% for NGN up to a maximum deposit fee of NGN 2,070.

Bank Transfer Fees

All of Luno’s bank transfer fees except one can be considered as nominal, coming in at less than €5 equivalent.

The one exception is Luno’s South African Rand (ZAR) cash deposit penalty of 5%+.

Pros and Cons

Here is our brief pros and cons breakdown of what this Luno review has shown us.

Closing Thoughts

Luno is a great option for people from the supported countries who only require transactions or trades that involve Bitcoin and Ethereum, or are looking for a low-cost fiat-to-crypto on-ramp. The simple interface and very competitive fees mean that there are few better options out there for people who fall into this group.

People from Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, and Nigeria will be particularly well-served by the ability to bank and trade in their native currencies.

However, users looking for more advanced trading features, more tradable cryptocurrencies or people from a large number of unsupported countries will likely be better off looking elsewhere for their cryptocurrency exchange services.

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Source: https://blokt.com/guides/luno-review