Luno Cuts 20% of Staff as Automation Reshapes Exchange
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- Luno is cutting approximately 20% of its global workforce, CEO James Lanigan confirmed to Bloomberg, citing investments in automation and operational improvements that have changed the resources needed to run the exchange.
- Lanigan declined to disclose the number of employees affected, but said Luno will continue investing in retail products, infrastructure, and regulatory compliance while expanding its business-to-business offering.
- The cuts mark Luno's second major workforce reduction in roughly three and a half years, following a 35% staff reduction in January 2023 during what the company called an "incredibly tough year" for the market.
- Luno restructured to combine its 16 million-user retail exchange with a white-label service that supplies liquidity, wallets, and compliance infrastructure to banks, fintechs, and telecom companies offering crypto under their own brands.
- The exchange stopped serving customers in some markets as of September 1 to concentrate on Africa and Southeast Asia, and South Africa's Discovery Bank began offering access to more than 50 cryptocurrencies through Luno in December 2025.
- The weaker retail trading environment mirrors a broader crypto industry contraction, with exchanges BitMEX and BitMart winding down their operations.
- Digital Currency Group acquired Luno in 2020, and the DCG-owned company reported the latest layoffs as automation-driven rather than purely market-driven.
Why it matters: Luno is doubling down on a B2B white-label model after automating away retail-heavy roles, betting that banks and fintechs—not individual traders—will drive the next phase of crypto adoption across Africa and Southeast Asia, even as peers BitMEX and BitMart retreat entirely.
