How Marcus Swanepoel built Luno into a leading crypto exchange in Africa (from startup to 9M+ users)

In Summary

• Luno operates in over 40 countries, serving nine million users globally by 2021.
• The platform integrates local currency systems in key African markets, including South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.
• Marcus Swanepoel became Executive Chairman in 2023, continuing to drive Luno’s pan-African expansion.
• Luno has played a key role in accelerating crypto adoption across Africa by providing secure, mobile-first access to digital assets.

Deep Dive!!

Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, November 20 – Marcus Swanepoel, a South African chartered accountant and former investment banker, co-founded Luno in 2013 with a bold mission to bring secure, mobile-first access to cryptocurrency to emerging markets.

Drawing on experience at global financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley in London and Standard Chartered in Singapore, Swanepoel saw firsthand the gaps in Africa’s financial systems. He envisioned a platform that could bridge these gaps, giving users a reliable way to buy, store, and trade digital assets where traditional banking often falls short.

Mobile phones were becoming widely adopted in Africa during 2013–2015, making a mobile-first approach crucial for reaching populations with limited access to traditional banking infrastructure. Swanepoel’s banking background also informed Luno’s early compliance frameworks, ensuring the platform could operate securely and resiliently from the start.

Under his leadership, Luno expanded beyond South Africa into over 40 countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. By 2021, it served nine million users globally and had processed billions of dollars in transactions, cementing its place as one of the continent’s most successful fintech ventures.

Swanepoel’s vision is distinctly pan-African, designing a platform that works across the continent’s diverse and complex financial landscapes. Luno exemplifies how technology can drive financial inclusion, boost economic participation, and build trust in digital assets, putting Africa at the forefront of global crypto adoption.

This article dives into Swanepoel’s journey, Luno’s milestones, and key lessons for African entrepreneurs aiming to reshape the continent’s innovation landscape.

Early Life, Education, and Experience

Marcus Swanepoel is South African by birth and professional training. While public records provide limited detail on his childhood, it is clear that he developed an early interest in both technology and finance. He has described himself as a passionate coder in his teens and recalls entrepreneurial experiments, such as trading football cards during the 1994 Soccer World Cup, reflecting an early inclination toward business and technology. Growing up in South Africa, he was immersed in an environment that valued formal education and global opportunity, which laid the foundation for his later academic and professional achievements.

Swanepoel’s academic journey began at Stellenbosch University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance in 2002. He continued his studies at the University of Cape Town, completing a postgraduate diploma in accounting in 2003. Following this, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Johannesburg, gaining professional credibility in audit, corporate finance, and financial reporting. Seeking to augment his technical accounting knowledge with strategic leadership capabilities, he pursued an MBA at INSEAD, a globally recognized business school with campuses in Singapore and France.

In addition, he holds the CFA designation from the CFA Institute. This rigorous academic and professional training provided Swanepoel with a strong foundation in financial analysis and investment strategy and honed analytical and problem-solving skills that would later inform his business leadership and entrepreneurial decision-making. His coding background also influenced early Luno product design, allowing for innovative mobile-first wallet features.

After completing his formal education, Swanepoel accumulated significant professional experience across multiple global financial institutions. He began his career at Morgan Stanley in London within the Consumer Banking division, gaining practical exposure to banking operations and consumer finance. He subsequently joined 3i Group plc, a private equity firm also based in London, where he worked in growth capital and fundraising, developing insight into investment strategy and emerging market finance.

Following this, he spent approximately two years at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, focusing on leveraged finance and emerging-market operations.

During this period, Swanepoel gained a comprehensive understanding of the financial dynamics, regulatory frameworks, and operational challenges of emerging economies. Before fully transitioning into fintech, he also travelled extensively through Europe, Russia, China, Japan, Korea, and the United States, including time in Silicon Valley, to study technology and start-up ecosystems, observing trends that would later inform the design and strategy of Luno.

In 2013, Swanepoel co-founded Luno, initially named Switchless, alongside Timothy Stranex and other early collaborators. His decision to pivot from traditional finance to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology was informed by his extensive experience in emerging-market finance and his early interest in technology. The knowledge gained from working in consumer banking, private equity, and leveraged finance allowed him to identify structural gaps in Africa’s financial systems, including limited banking access, high transaction costs, and currency volatility. As CEO of Luno, he applied this expertise to build a platform tailored to emerging markets, designing mobile-first wallets, local currency rails, and regulatory-compliant systems.

Under his leadership, Luno expanded beyond South Africa into more than 40 countries, establishing itself as a leading pan-African crypto exchange and setting the foundation for financial inclusion across the continent.

Inspiration to Start Luno

Africa’s financial gaps were too large to ignore.

Marcus Swanepoel founded Luno in 2013 after observing structural gaps in financial systems across emerging markets, particularly in Africa. Through his experience in global finance including roles in consumer banking, private equity, and leveraged finance, he witnessed firsthand how large segments of the population remained unbanked or underbanked. Traditional banking systems in many African countries were slow, costly, and vulnerable to currency volatility, creating significant barriers for everyday financial transactions.

Swanepoel recognized that mobile phone penetration across Africa was rapidly outpacing access to banking infrastructure, creating an opportunity to deliver financial services through technology. He saw that cryptocurrency and blockchain could provide a secure, mobile-first alternative capable of reducing transaction costs, bypassing currency devaluation, and improving financial inclusion. His early travels through Europe, Asia, and the United States to study technology trends further reinforced the potential for digital financial solutions in emerging markets.

Reflecting on the motivation behind Luno, Swanepoel stated:

“We tend to hear about the perceived issues with crypto, and although these stories make headlines, they also make us forget the problems which have beset the traditional financial systems in Africa.”

He also leveraged the technical expertise of his co-founder Timothy Stranex, whose skills complemented Swanepoel’s vision by enabling the development of robust and scalable blockchain infrastructure.

2013 was a pivotal year globally for crypto adoption, with Bitcoin gaining visibility and early exchanges beginning to take shape, presenting a timely window to enter the market.

By 2018, Luno emphasized its mission to expand across African markets, focusing on local currency integration, regulatory compliance, and financial education to build trust in crypto. By 2021, Swanepoel highlighted that Luno had built infrastructure, KYC processes, local payment systems, and customer support tailored to African realities, enabling rapid adoption in markets that had previously been hesitant to engage with digital assets.

The inspiration for Luno was therefore grounded in practical experience and market insight. Swanepoel combined his understanding of Africa’s financial exclusion, the continent’s mobile-first opportunity, and his global finance expertise to create a platform capable of addressing real-world challenges. This vision laid the foundation for Luno’s pan-African expansion and established its role as a leading crypto exchange focused on inclusion, accessibility, and innovation.

What Problem Luno Solves

Luno addresses structural, not speculative, financial problems in Africa. In many African markets, financial systems face interconnected challenges such as weak banking infrastructure, currency instability, high cross‑border transfer costs, limited access to investment, and digital exclusion. Luno addresses several of these problems through its mobile-first crypto exchange and wallet platform. Below are five key problems it tackles, each followed by a brief explanation of how Luno responds to them.

1. Under‑banked or unbanked populations. Many individuals in Africa lack access to traditional bank accounts. Over 66% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa are unbanked or underbanked, according to World Bank data. Luno provides a mobile wallet that can be downloaded and used without the need for a full banking history. This allows users to store, buy, and trade digital assets even when conventional bank services are unavailable.
2. Currency depreciation and inflation. Several African currencies have experienced significant depreciation and high inflation rates, eroding savings and reducing purchasing power. Luno offers access to cryptocurrencies and stablecoins (such as USDT), which users can use as a hedge against local-currency volatility. For example, Nigerian users facing FX pressures and South African users concerned about inflation have increasingly turned to stablecoins.
3. High costs and delays in cross‑border payments and remittances. Remittance fees in Sub-Saharan Africa average around 9% for transfers under US$200, significantly higher than the global average. Luno’s platform enables fiat-to-crypto conversions and peer-to-peer transfers that reduce intermediary costs and accelerate transaction times.
4. Access to global financial markets and innovation. Traditional brokerages in African markets often limit access to global equities and require large minimums and foreign-currency conversions. Luno has introduced tokenized U.S.-stock products (xStocks) that allow African users to access fractional shares of global assets via crypto infrastructure.
5. Digital and mobile-first gap in financial services. While mobile phone penetration in Africa is growing, traditional banking infrastructure has lagged. Luno leverages mobile devices to deliver its wallet and exchange services, bypassing the need for brick-and-mortar banking infrastructure and enabling financial participation via apps.

Together, these five problem areas underscore that Luno is a platform bridging gaps in financial inclusion, investment access, and digital infrastructure in emerging African markets. By integrating local currency support, mobile accessibility, and regulatory compliance, Luno addresses multi-layered barriers rather than simply offering speculative trading.

Milestones Achieved to Date

Between 2013 and 2025, Luno’s growth accelerated in five phases.

Since its founding in 2013, Luno has grown from a South African startup into a leading cryptocurrency exchange serving multiple regions globally. The company focused on building a mobile-first, secure, and user-friendly wallet platform designed for emerging-market realities, where access to traditional banking infrastructure is limited. This approach allowed Luno to reach users who had little or no access to traditional financial services, particularly in Africa, establishing a foundation for widespread cryptocurrency adoption.

By 2019, Luno had reached 3 million wallets globally. By April 2021, it reported a global customer base of 7 million, with 4.7 million users in Africa. By June 2021, the platform had expanded to 8 million customers globally.

In April 2022, Luno announced that it had surpassed 10 million customers across over 40 countries. Customers also held more than US$1 billion in digital assets. Assets are fully backed through Luno’s Proof-of-Reserves process, providing public attestation that customer funds are secure.

As of early 2025, Luno continues to serve millions of customers across more than 40 countries, maintaining Africa as a key market while continuing expansion into Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Collectively, these milestones illustrate Luno’s growth from a local wallet service in South Africa into a pan-African and global cryptocurrency exchange. Beyond the raw numbers, they reflect the company’s focus on financial inclusion, regulatory compliance, and mobile-first adoption, demonstrating how strategic planning and adaptation to emerging-market realities can drive sustainable growth in the digital asset space.

Lessons for Other Entrepreneurs

The journey of Marcus Swanepoel and Luno provides multiple lessons for African entrepreneurs aiming to build pan-African or global ventures. These lessons reflect both strategic choices and practical approaches validated by Luno’s success.

1. Identify and Solve Real Problems. Luno’s growth was driven by addressing genuine financial challenges: underbanked populations, currency instability, high transaction costs, and limited access to global markets. Entrepreneurs should focus on problems that have a measurable impact and underserved markets. For example, Swanepoel recognized that millions of Africans lacked access to banking, which shaped Luno’s mobile-first design.
2. Leverage Technology for Market Gaps. Luno capitalized on the rapid mobile penetration across Africa, offering a mobile-first crypto platform. Entrepreneurs should evaluate technology trends in their markets and leverage them to deliver solutions that bypass traditional infrastructure limitations. Swanepoel’s early coding experience and technology research enabled the creation of a platform suited for mobile users.
3. Prioritize Regulatory Compliance Early. Luno invested in local compliance, KYC processes, and partnerships with regulators across multiple African countries. Entrepreneurs should engage regulatory frameworks early to build trust, avoid legal obstacles, and scale safely. Local currency rails in South Africa and Nigeria illustrate successful early implementation.
4. Adopt a Customer-Centric Approach. Luno emphasized usability, educational resources, and customer support tailored for diverse markets. Understanding user behavior, providing guidance, and fostering trust are crucial for retention and adoption, especially in fintech or tech-driven sectors. This focus helped Luno gain confidence among users hesitant about cryptocurrency.
5. Scale Gradually with Focused Regional Strategy. Luno began in South Africa, expanded selectively across Africa, and eventually reached over 40 countries. Entrepreneurs should validate product-market fit before scaling internationally.
6. Maintain Transparency and Build Trust. Luno’s Proof-of-Reserves reports and open communication about financial practices reinforced credibility. Entrepreneurs should prioritize transparency, particularly when handling financial or sensitive customer data, to establish a long-term sustainable brand.
7. Adapt and Innovate Continuously. Luno introduced new products over time, including tokenized U.S. stocks and crypto staking, responding to market demand. Entrepreneurs should remain agile, continuously assess market needs, and innovate to maintain relevance and competitive advantage.

Luno’s deliberate focus on real-world problems, compliance, trust, and strategic scaling created a pan-African crypto platform that continues to expand globally. These lessons also highlight how African fintech innovation can succeed on the global stage when practical solutions meet visionary leadership.

Luno’s journey shows that African innovation succeeds when vision meets practical solutions. By addressing real financial challenges with technology, education, and trust, it demonstrates how homegrown fintech can empower millions and shape the continent’s digital future.