Luno Bitcoin Exchange Review

Formerly known as BitX, Luno is one of the oldest Bitcoin exchanges in the World. The UK-based company was established in 2013 at a time when most people hadn’t heard of the digital currency and those who had were mostly not interested. With time, Luno has built a reputation for being one of the most reliable, safe and affordable Bitcoin exchanges in the World. Ironically, their market share remains relatively small and trading rarely exceeds half a million dollars. This could be because, for the longest time, Luno was only dealing with bitcoins, leaving out other currencies which might have brought it a bigger number of clients. As such, when the company changed their name from BitX to Luno, there was speculation that they were planning to introduce supporting services for other digital currencies in a bid to improve their market share. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen.

Update (November 9, 2017): Luno now also offers service for Ethereum, allowing their customers to buy, sell and store ETH.

Luno.com Bitcoin Exchange

Trading Platforms

Luno supports a number of platforms which are all integrated to enable seamless cross-platform interaction. First, there is the web platform, accessed through the main web page and which requires no downloads whatsoever. For mobile users, the Luno mobile app is available at Google PlayStore and is tailored to make trading as safe, smooth and efficient as possible in mobile devices. WebSocket and API platforms are also supported and provide alternative ways to access the exchange system.

Transaction Charges and Commissions

Luno has some of the lowest rates in the industry. Basically, traders incur zero charges when sending or receiving BTC using their email addresses or phone numbers. When sending or receiving BTC through your Bitcoin address, a transaction fee of BTC 0.0002 applies. When it comes to purchases, the payable commission is dependent on whether you are a ‘taker’ or ‘giver.’ Takers are generally those traders who decrease the liquidity by buying Bitcoins. Givers, on the other hand are traders who increase the liquidity by offering Bitcoins for sale.

Transaction charges when funding your account depend on your geographic location and means of payment. Credit card payments attract a maximum 1.50% commission while bank transfers are free for most countries.

Withdrawals attract commissions of up to $50 again, depending on the amount to be withdrawn.

Luno Bitcoin Wallet

The Luno Bitcoin Wallet application for mobile devices makes it possible to buy bitcoin using a credit card. Currently in beta, this feature is only available in Canada, India and Europe. Other features include quickly buying and selling bitcoin, accessing your bitcoin account easily even when you’re away from your computer, and a lot more. You can even use the application to trade on the Luno Exchange. Instant buy/sell and the Luno Exchange are currently available in Indonesia, Nigeria, Singapore and South Africa, with more countries coming soon.

Regulation

As of now, Luno has no known licenses under any jurisdiction. This is probably because Bitcoins are not considered legal tender and governments are yet to develop regulatory frameworks. That said, the company complies with Know Your Customer and Anti Money Laundering standards to prevent money laundering and ensure that all transactions are secure.

Payment Method

You can fund your Luno account and/or buy BTC via bank transfer, international wire or credit card. Currencies supported include British Pound, Indonesian Rupiah, Malaysian Ringitt and the South African Rand.

Customer support

Luno customer support can be reached by visiting the help page (luno.com/help) and filling out the inquiry form.

Local office addresses

1 Fore Street, London EC2Y 9DT

120 Robinson Road, Singapore 068913

De Waterkant, Cape Town 8001

Testimonials

We couldn’t find a lot of negative reviews about this bitcoin exchange. One reviewer from South Africa wrote that he has been “using Luno for a couple of months now and I must say I’m impressed. No delays in incoming/outgoing BTC or FIAT to ZAR. Verification checks were straight forward and no issues paying into Capitec.”

Unfortunately, the Bitcoin Wallet application received quite a few negative reviews on the Google Play website. For example, one reviewer said: “this luno is begining to look more and more like a scam.. first I can’t withdraw my money to my naira bank account now I can’t even send out BTC to another account.. what happened to BITX? Luno is a scam..”

Another reviewer writes: “This guy’s are scam there staff hacks into my account as soon as I received btc, my password, my pin n email where never tempered with, luno AR big thief’s it will never be well with you people.”

Now, Luno has taken time to reply to each of these comments, we’ll give them credit for that. But whether or not you should trust this company remains disputable. We dislike the fact that there’s no telephone number for customer support. And also in general we would not recommend doing business with a non-regulated company.

Luno Review Conclusion

We currently believe that while Luno may not be a scam, there are better Bitcoin exchanges out there. 

If you traded with Luno, please leave a comment below detailing your experience with this bitcoin exchange. Once we have additional feedback about Luno, we will be able to reach a more definite conclusion regarding this company. For now, you’re welcome to visit our List of Bitcoin Exchanges for alternatives.

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211 Comments

  1. Mark

    Luno is most defiantly a scam. PLEASE do your research, they will respond to these comments and say the complaints are not true but I will gladly supply documents to show they have stolen a whole lot of user’s funds. They recently stole 1300 from me and I am working on different options to try to recover my funds. I am also on working on a website I will be putting to help people like me that have been a victim of this company’s scams. There are a lot of posts on the internet where people have deposited their money and Luno locks them out of their account and keeps their money. That is what they did to me October 13th 2022 and in just a few short days I have talked with 78 people that had virtually the same experience I did,

    I purchased 1300 dollars in bitcoin and sent it to my personal wallet, however it never arrived and when I contacted Luno they said they needed to verify my identity again. After days of sending pictures, videos and messages they send me message saying my account will be closed. They will not return my 1300 and will not answer my messages or emails. I get no responses from them. But they will find my reviews and leave comments saying it is not true. Like I said I will produce documents to show it is most defiantly true. Soon I hope to have website up where people can post their proof also, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND STAY FAR AWAY FROM THESE THIEVES….

  2. Elyo

    Luno.com is absolutely a SCAM. First time i was trying to invest with them. after i sent 4500 EUR i received an email that i should provide more information to them about my ID. Of course that i did and still i has been 10 days with no answer. they dont reply to my mail and they just close my tickets without explanation. Also they blocked the WITHDRAW and i cannot get back my OWN money. DON’T USE THIS EXHCANGE

  3. mat

    they fees has incredibility high just for sending 0.00025 they charge me R126.00 for just R30.00 and they say it is dynamic fee i suggest using other wallet.

  4. William

    Yes, instant-luno.com is the biggest scam I’ve ever seen. 😡😡 they don’t pay out!

  5. Lynn Katsoulis

    We just lost all our bitcoun on Luno. The are no contract details or any option fot recoirse.

    As far as I can see it’s a total scam.

  6. Pascal Büchel

    Hello
    Can you check instant-luno.com
    If it is a scam?
    I think they ar, because you have to register other people to payout your win. 😩😢

  7. Abu hanifah

    Luno-pay .com is ur company too?

  8. Mar

    Hello,
    Please kindly take my review as a high priority.
    Firstly,i think your service in terms of security of accounts/funds is very good,really good.
    Your KYL and other verifications before an account could be upgraded to level 2 or level 3 is also very good,really good.

    All these said,i think once an account has been verified and all is good,and a customer sends money from his/her bank account to his/her account on luno (with both bank account and luno profile showing the same person as the owner,hence not a third party),then a customer can have a smooth usage of your service considering the nature of the rapid change of bitcoin prices,considering bank payments to have gone through some verification by the banks before finally getting to luno,most bank payments have a 2FA-like features which it is so hard for a third party or hacker to possess. And even if there would be an issue,i believe this issue should be solved by your team within few hours of the same day. I think this should be highly taken into consideration because of the losses it can amount to,due to bitcoin’s volatility.

    And if after-all you think something is fishy,you should contact the customer for further details or you should make a refund back to the funding account with adequate email/phone notifications to the registered email/phone. These two steps should be taken before the customer could decide to convert the fiat money to cryptocurrency. Once the conversion has taken place,i think the customer has the right and privilege to use his/her cryptocurrency as desired. You already have a KYL about this customer,so why delaying his trade and making him/her losing money while you are making money.

    My personal issue for writing this review is because since friday 1/march/2019,i made a payment from my bank account using SEPA payment,i received this payment on my luno account the same day. After a little while,i tried to buy bitcoin with this fund and then send the bitcoin to my other wallets where i hold the backup phrase keys,considering the recent hack from luno-like exchanges,cryptopia.co.nz ,This is why it is always advisable to have your bitcoin in a wallet you control the backup phrase keys. Back to my ordeal,since friday and till now,the bitcoin transfer from luno to my other wallet shows “pending” . I thought maybe because i didnt make the transfer during business hours,so i decided to wait till monday morning. And after the friday SEPA transfer,i had made some money transfer from my bank account to luno account with the knowledge that the money will be shown in my luno account by monday so that i can buy bitcoins and ethereum. On monday,the whole batches of my SEPA transfers came into my luno wallet. And then after,i converted them to bitcoin,then after i tried to move my bitcoin to my desired wallets. Today is Wednesday,all my bitcoin transfers are still showing “pending”
    However,i contacted their support via chat and emails because luno cant be reached by phone except they call you. So on tuesday,a mail was sent to me to ”
    Your identity document.
    A handwritten note with today’s date and ‘For Luno Use Only’. ”

    I did that and sent it to them,very clear and readable !
    And they also stated that if all is good then they will send my bitcoin to my desired addresses,or maybe place a fone call to me,which i expected to do but they didnt call ,neither was any email sent to me.
    This was on tueday !!

    I didnt hear from them,not even an email for acknowledging that they have received the documents/photos,or email notification to communicate to you if the photo was acceptable or not,or maybe a further (simple or complex) step is required. Please note,some exchange do complain of photos/documents sent to them not being too clear enough,so i always make sure i sent a very clear document/photo with high resolutions so that when you zoom it then you would see clearly every little information. But honestly,you guys please dont compare the camera qualities of a phone to a professional digital-camera,moreover 99.9% of customers use their phone camera to snap these documents/photos. So a high consideration should be considered as regards to the general populace usage.

    On wednesday,i didnt hear from them, then i sent another required photo to them again showing the current date which is wednesday and not the previous (tuesday).

    Still,no respond from them,not even an automated email to acknowledge the received mail,i think this is really bad for a company like luno who is charged with the responsibilities of our funds and our personal data.

    Later that same day which is today wednesday,i decided to login into my luno account, to my dismay my account shows that it has been temporarily suspended. Why would you do such a thing without any notification of any sort? This is really very ridiculous !!

    Immediately,i contacted one of their agents on their chatting platform,his name is mihail. Mihail approach was so good and concise,i told him everything,then he saw that i already contacted them and that i was already assigned a ticket,he read this ticket and he told me they are working on it and that i would have to wait between 2 business day for a resolution (another 2 days? ). My issue with luno is firstly,they are not fully communicative and secondly,they are not timely !! And these two factors are not good for a cryptocurrency dealing considering the high volatility of bitcoin and also the case of a hacker taking down your account,luno’s late or slow response could make things so tensed for you.

    For clarity,my ticket ID is: #604732 and i have more than 2.0 BTC “pending” on luno. Already i have lost some money in the conversion and also in luno’s charges and fees. Will i keep loosing considering i am not being able to trade when i should have ?

    Please put yourself in my situation. This is so sadden.
    In conclusion,i think luno is good in terms of security of accounts/funds,they are very good,really good because they have a 2FA password feature. I will look forward to see luno adding a backup seed to their wallets,i dont know how this is possible,or not.

    But what i’m really looking forward to is to be in possession of my bitcoin.
    Please i want all the team leaders/departments in luno to read this,this could/should be a wake-up call for them so that they can improve their services.

    Regards.

    • Samantha

      luno is a whole scam do not trust them, the person who was managing my account told me to keep on buying the coins buy using the Luno app, please I am currently pointing together a legal case against companies like this on myscamexperience. The more we are the stronger our case, I believe by sharing our reviews we can help others avoid scams like this.

      • telegram_@keepbanking

        What the heck !?!
        THeir support is good and kind AFAIK.
        What’ bothering you srsly

        do you mean luno.com???
        you can find on wikipedia. All companies listed on wikipedia usually not scam!

        contact support if got a problem do not judge!

  9. Sinbad

    Hi. I live in Johannesburg south Africa. Im interested in bitcoin but don’t know how and where to start. Will the system generate money fore automatically if i buy the bitcoin as I do not have any idea on how to run it

    • Charlotte

      WhatsApp me I will help you through it. 06174211425

  10. Francesca Gubellini

    Luno is a scam don’t use it. No customer service, no fraud department, no investigations. They owe me money that I’m trying to recover in other ways because they are scammers. Don’t use it keep your money safe. Luno is not safe at all. I was scammed on their app. Never again and I’m already spreading the word as far and wide as possible. Appalling

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