Interview: Luno Makes Investing in Cryptocurrency Easy

Have you ever thought about investing in Cryptocurrency? In this interview, we catch up with Byron Goldberg from Luno to learn more about investing in the world of Crypto. 

What is Luno?

Luno is a leading global cryptocurrency company with over 5 million customers in over 40 countries and a team of over 300. Headquartered in London, Luno operates across Africa, South East Asia, Europe and now Australia.

Our products and services make it safe and easy to buy, store and learn about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Luno’s vision is to upgrade the world to a better financial system.

At Luno we are striving to create a safe, simple and feature-rich experience as possible for our customers, as they make their way into the world of Crypto. Whether you’re looking for a secure Bitcoin Wallet, an easy way to Buy Bitcoin (BTC) or Cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) or Litecoin (LTC), an advanced crypto trading platform (Luno Exchange) or simply a safe space to explore and learn about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, we have you covered.

What is the process to buy Bitcoin?

We’ve worked long and hard to ensure we give our customers the simplest experience when upgrading to the new financial system (i.e. buying Bitcoin).

Firstly, you will need to sign up and create an account.

You’ll verify your identity by confirming your email address and phone number, your identity (through an ID document and selfie) and answer a few security questions, allowing us to comply with local and international AML/KYC policies.

You will then be guided to deposit funds into your AUD Luno wallet.

You can deposit dollars using either a normal Bank Transfer (EFT) or via PayID. For both deposit methods, we create a unique account number (or unique PayID) for you, meaning you don’t need to use a reference number. Funds can be deposited instantly.

Once your dollars arrive, it really is as simple as choosing how much, as well as how frequently you would like to buy! If you want to set a repeat-buy (automatically buying you a set amount either daily, weekly or monthly) you will need to ensure you have enough funds in your AUD wallet – don’t worry, we’ll remind you. You will see your Bitcoin wallet reflect with the amount of Bitcoin you just purchased. You’ve just been upgraded.

Why are so many people investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin?

People are buying cryptocurrencies for many different reasons, ranging from need (because it meets their needs better than existing options – safer, faster, cheaper, borderless) to greed (because they want to make money – as a high risk high performing asset, to diversify their portfolio, or they’re curious to see if the price will increase.) Some are speculating (betting on future price movements), some are investing (betting that the market will mature because the potential value of cryptocurrencies as a payment system is so great.) Most people buy cryptocurrency for long term investments, arbitrage trading or to make short term speculative gains. However, once they start to understand the true value of cryptocurrencies, their purchase behaviors evolve into a more precise investment into the technology and use cases behind each specific cryptocurrency.

What is the difference between the Luno wallet and exchange?

Luno Wallet 

A wallet is just that – a place to store your money. The Luno Wallet is a place to store, send and receive cryptocurrencies. The wallet is accessible via mobile app and web browser, and can be additionally secured with 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication – similar concept to the OTP). In the wallet, you can also buy and sell your cryptocurrencies.

Luno’s app also has an Explore & Learn section – where you can learn about the basics of cryptocurrencies & blockchain, keep up to date with the latest industry news and happenings, product updates and most importantly learning material to better understand the cryptoverse. The app also features a Rewards tab where you can share the app by referring friends and earn yourself and your friend free Bitcoin. Currently, we offer $20 worth of free Bitcoin to both you and your friend when your friend buys $199 worth of crypto in the wallet.

Luno Exchange

The wonderful world of Blockchain (and the cryptocurrencies that come with it) have truly created a new financial world.

Let’s use traditional equities (shares) as an example: If you want to buy some Afterpay or Apple shares you need to go through a broker who is connected (through one or many degrees of separation) to the ASX or NASDAQ exchange. Here dozens of transactions and processes happen in the backend but you never directly access the ASX or NASDAQ. You also never physically possess the share certificates, and moving your shares from one broker to another always proves difficult, time consuming and headache-inducing.

However, on the Luno Exchange you have direct market access – you are placing orders yourself, not through a broker. You can place a buy order for Bitcoin at $10,000 (and hope it gets there) or a sell order at $10,000,000 (and REALLY hope it gets there). After trades take place, the asset (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) go right into your Luno Wallet – no complications – you can now send or spend or store your Bitcoin wherever you like. On the Luno Exchange, you can use the Trading View chart to perform live technical analysis too! Our exchange also offers a public and private API (for those techy-traders)

The Luno Exchange is for the slightly more advanced investors and traders – but we have no doubt that once you’re immersed in the world of crypto you’ll be confident enough to dip your toe in the Exchange product eventually.

What is the benefit of Bitcoin compared to other investment options?

As an asset, Bitcoin could be considered digital gold. For one, it is rare, which means it has limited supply (there is only a certain amount of gold in the world – if it was too abundant everyone would have it and then it would have no value).

It is malleable (it can be melted and made into smaller units i.e. coins, and importantly the per unit value doesn’t change when you break it into smaller pieces, unlike things like diamonds).

It is stable and doesn’t degrade, it’s easy to recognise and very importantly, difficult to counterfeit.

As it turns out, Bitcoin has all of these same characteristics, and more. It has limited supply (only a specific amount of Bitcoin exists and will ever be produced – 21 million coins).

It can be made into smaller units without losing unit value.

Its technology makes it very stable, it won’t degrade, and it’s impossible to counterfeit.

On top of this, and unlike gold, you can move Bitcoin to any place on earth within minutes, no matter how big or small the amount. That’s why many people say that Bitcoin is not just digital gold, but a better version of gold. On top of that, Bitcoin has value as a payment system in itself, which gives it even more value and that drives demand up. The more people use Bitcoin for payments, the more valuable the system becomes.

Why should investors consider using Luno to add cryptocurrencies to their portfolio mix?

Founded in 2013, Luno has been in cryptocurrency for almost as long as Bitcoin. We believe wholeheartedly that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin have the ability to upgrade the world to a better financial system. With 8+ billion dollars in processed transactions, we believe we have built one of the world’s most sophisticated Bitcoin security systems.

The Luno suite of products offers both a simplistic way for investors to learn and invest in cryptocurrencies using the Wallet, as well as a more complex method of investing and trading using the Exchange, either through the app/web or via API.

Not only is Luno an easy place to buy and learn about Bitcoin in Australia, but also a safe place to store and even send your cryptocurrencies, and if you use and share the app with friends and family, you’ll be rewarded in free Bitcoin.

Our product teams are always working hard to innovate and serve our customers as best as possible – bringing out new features and tweaking old ones. A new feature to look out for this year is our Bitcoin Savings wallet, where you will be able to grow your Bitcoin’s value directly from your wallet.

Find out more about Luno and begin your investment journey with Cryptocurrency today.