Luno cuts 20% of staff as CEO pivots to institutional business

Luno, the Digital Currency Group-owned crypto exchange with roots in South Africa, is laying off roughly 20% of its global workforce. The cuts, announced July 28, come as CEO James Lanigan steers the company through a restructuring to trim costs and reposition around institutional clients rather than retail traders.

Luno cut 35% of its staff back in January 2023 during the broader crypto winter. Two and a half years later, the exchange is back at the chopping block with a different rationale. Retail volumes are not recovering fast enough, and the money has moved to B2B.

Luno built its reputation as one of the more accessible on-ramps for crypto buyers across Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia-Pacific. The current restructuring reflects that reality. Rather than waiting for retail enthusiasm to return, Lanigan is pushing toward business-to-business services and institutional product offerings. Stablecoin infrastructure appears central to that strategy.

The company said customers should not expect disruptions to services or operations. The specific number of employees affected and which regions bear the brunt of the cuts remain unclear.

Lanigan took over as CEO in March 2023, stepping up from COO, a role he held since joining the company in 2018. He replaced co-founder Marcus Swanepoel, who moved into an executive chairman role.

In June, Lanigan warned that proposed South African regulations on capital flows could effectively cut local companies off from what he projected to be a $33 trillion global stablecoin market. South Africa is Luno's home turf and a key growth market.

Luno's parent company, Digital Currency Group, has had its own turbulent few years. The conglomerate, which also owns Grayscale and mining operation Foundry, weathered the implosion of its lending subsidiary Genesis in 2023. DCG has been stabilizing its portfolio companies since then, and Luno's restructuring fits that pattern.

The exchange is essentially conceding that its retail business, at least in its current form, cannot sustain the company's cost structure.

The stablecoin angle is worth watching. Lanigan's $33 trillion market projection reflects a clear direction of travel. Companies that can provide the rails for institutional stablecoin usage – custody, settlement, compliance – stand to capture meaningful revenue. Whether Luno can credibly compete in that space against better-capitalized rivals remains an open question.