South African Exchange, Luno, to Shed 35% of Jobs to Navigate ‘Crypto Winter’

BitKE · 2026-03-25T00:59:08+00:00

Luno, the South African crypto exchange, plans to cut 35% of its workforce due to challenges in the crypto market, influenced by the wider tech industry's decline and the fallout from FTX's collapse.

BitKE

2026-03-25 00:59:08

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Luno, the global crypto exchange from South Africa, plans to implement staff cuts by 35%, an internal memo reveals.

According to the memo, CEO, Marcus Swanepoel, told employees the cuts would be implemented across all of Luno’s markets, in its plan to navigate the crypto winter.

Headquartered in London, the company’s leading markets are:

South Africa
Nigeria
Indonesia

“It is with deep regret that I have to announce we will be reducing our overall Luno team by 35%, impacting Luno in all of our regions.

2022 has been an incredibly tough year for the broader tech industry and in particular the crypto market. Luno, unfortunately, hasn’t been immune to this turbulence, which has affected our overall growth and revenue numbers.

As a result, we have to readjust our focus to maintaining our leadership position in our core markets and continue to lay a strong yet sustainable foundation for the business as we prepare to come out of this current cycle in a very strong position.” – CEO’s memo

It will not be lost to many that Luno’s sister company Genesis filed for bankruptcy on January 19 2023, as pressure mounts on parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG). A large crypto player, DCG is caught up in the fallout from the collapse of FTX, formerly one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.

Swanepoel suggests that the combination of a worldwide economic decline, a significant decrease in the technology field, and various setbacks that have further impacted the sector, ultimately resulted in the company’s unfortunate choice.

Additionally, he mentioned that the fall of FTX, and the significant decrease in value of the Luna cryptocurrency in recent years, also played a role in the decision.

“This, in turn, has impacted us indirectly in a number of ways: on the capital side, a significantly more constrained funding environment, with the market’s focus shifting from long-term investment to shorter term profitability, and on the operating side, a negative impact on market sentiment and consequently on growth and revenue for our business, along with all of our peers and competitors.”

Luno also announced its Co-Founder and CTO, Timothy Stranex, has left the company after almost 10 years to pursue personal projects.

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