Bitcoin is for everyone and crypto start-up Luno is using education to prove it

Luno's CEO on celebrating reaching two million customers and the future of cryptocurrencies 
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Amelia Heathman15 August 2018

Forget the headlines: bitcoin isn’t dead, and Luno is the start-up proving this.

After the relatively obscure cryptocurrency hit highs of nearly $20,000 last December, everyone and their dog was talking about bitcoin and knew someone who had become a bitcoin millionaire.

But, when it came crashing back down to the mid-$5,000s, people were ready to write it off as a mere internet experiment.

The reality is far from this. The London-based cryptocurrency wallet start-up Luno has announced it now reaches two million global customers, who are looking for a safe and easy way to buy, store and trade digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum.

Luno’s co-founder and CEO, Marcus Swanepoel, tells the Standard: “There’s a lot of potential for bitcoin and ethereum, and a lot of noise around them and what they can do.

“But, we have to be careful in terms of crypto and what we put on our platform and promote to customers, because we want to keep people safe.”

What is cryptocurrency?


Cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin or ethereum, are digital currencies.

Encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of the currency and verify the transfer of funds, which are independent from a central bank.

Fiat currency, like UK pounds or US dollars, which are backed by a central, are the opposite of cryptocurrency. 

Swanepoel initially started out in finance, working in investment banking until he made the decision to move to Silicon Valley in 2013 and launch a tech start-up. “I’ve been building computers since I was young and writing software. It was a way of getting back to my original passion,” he says.

The move five years ago coincided with the moment topics such as fintech, bitcoin and blockchain were really starting to take off in the Valley. With Swanepoel’s background in finance, it looked like a perfect way to merge his passion for technology. After meeting a fellow South African, ex-Google software engineer Timothy Stranex, the idea for Luno was born.

“I’d seen all the inefficiencies with the financial system, across everything from transactions to compliance. We saw this new technology [of blockchain and bitcoin] that would make it easier to move money around.”

Despite the regular headlines declaring bitcoin officially dead, Swanepoel thinks we’re only at the tip of the iceberg for what the cryptocurrency could do. Appetite in the technology, however, appears depends on where you are in the world.

“London is meant to be the financial capital of the world but crypto and blockchain are not that big here,” he explains. “But if you got to New York, Shanghai, San Francisco, people are out of their minds. You get a completely different experience; a [huge] amount of institutional interest looking into to getting this right.”

What is Bitcoin? Everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency

For interest to change globally in the technology, companies in the crypto space need to deal with two major topics: education and security. One of Luno’s major focuses is on educating people about cryptocurrency so they can feel empowered to make investments in the space.

Because this digital currency isn’t just for tech bros, he says. Interest in Luno’s products comes from all over; whether that is from the women his wife meets in yoga classes to investors keen to cash in on the blockchain’s capabilities.

Security goes hand-in-hand with education; Luno has to make sure that customers understand and feel comfortable that their money is secure when they purchase cryptocurrency through the wallet. That’s why the start-up has “bank-grade security,” storing most of its crypto in offline, cold vaults.

This is where the private keys of the cryptocurrency are downloaded and stored in an offline environment, away from the internet, to ensure the coins are safe from hackers.

“One of the biggest ironies of bitcoin is it’s meant to be an online currency, but most it is stored offline,” says Swanepoel. “We make sure the physical access controls and procedures are multi-step, so one person can’t go into the vault and get the crypto out, you need multiple keys for multiple vaults.”

It sounds complicated, but these steps are necessary for people to have confidence in Luno’s capabilities. Swanepoel says that for Luno to grow further, it is going to continue to improve user experience and education around these types of concerns.

“It is an education process to help people understand it better,” he adds. “Once people do understand how bitcoin works, they will get that it gives you the freedom to do what you want.”