The Digital Currency Group (DCG) just got a whole lot bigger and is now a global enterprise with its latest purchase of Luno, a digital currency exchange based in the UK.
Luno Is Now a Part of the Growing Digital Currency Group
DCG is already a major firm considering it owns the institutional crypto trading platform Grayscale. Just a few months ago, the company posted more than $1 billion in trades for its second quarter, meaning that customers had to be trading more than $300 million each month for about three months. That’s some mega trading activity right there. In addition, the company also owns crypto media pages and mining firms.
Its purchase of Luno is going to expand DCG’s power across the planet, as the exchange is currently set to stretch out into the Middle East and South America. Chief executive of Luno Marcus Swanepoel stated in a recent interview:
Luno is a high growth global business, and there is a massive opportunity to expand organically and through acquisitions. We have been extremely impressed with the Luno team since we made our initial investment.
Since first rising to prominence, DCG has offered financial backing to approximately 160 crypto or blockchain-based startups and enterprises. It first provided the necessary funds to Luno six years ago in 2014, giving the exchange money to get its initial operations off the ground.
At the time of writing, Luno currently boasts more than 400 employees and about five million users in over 40 countries. Regional offices are situated within the borders of Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria and Malaysia, and its customer base has grown exponentially since the beginning of the year.
One of the reasons for such a huge burst in customer usage, according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, is that regions of South America, Africa and Asia are beginning to show newfound interest in digital trading. Swanepoel recently mentioned:
We’ve carved out a big business in the emerging markets. We’re quite dominant in South Africa and Southeast Asia. The Middle East and Latin America are interesting and expansion there will accelerate.
Seeing Crypto in a Whole New Light
In addition, he comments that the coronavirus pandemic has really put the limitations of fiat currencies in perspective for many people, and as a result, individuals are quickly turning to assets like bitcoin to hedge their wealth and keep themselves safe during these harsh economic times. He states:
We’re seeing crypto starting to flip into the mainstream, and this [deal with DCG] seemed to be the best way for Luno to upgrade more people the best way we can… DCG doesn’t want to flip the company in two or three years. There’s a long-term vision to rebuild the entire financial system.
Swanepoel says that he is hoping DCG’s acquisition of Luno will potentially lead to a customer base of over one billion people by the year 2030.
