Luno layoffs tied to automation as crypto exchange cuts 20% of staff

Luno layoffs automation is the latest signal that crypto exchanges are trying to run with smaller teams while retail trading remains uneven. For everyday crypto investors, the move shows how platforms are shifting money and attention toward back-end services, institutions and stablecoins rather than only consumer trading apps.

Luno will cut about 20% of its global workforce, CEO James Lanigan told Bloomberg on Tuesday. Lanigan did not disclose how many jobs are affected, according to Bloomberg.

The London-headquartered exchange is owned by Digital Currency Group and has 16 million users across Africa and Asia-Pacific, Bloomberg reported.

Why is Luno cutting staff?

Lanigan told Bloomberg that Luno has spent the past year investing in automation and other operating improvements. He said those tools are changing the staffing model needed to run the company, allowing Luno to operate with a smaller and adjusted structure.

Automation in this context means software taking over or speeding up repeatable tasks that previously required more manual work. For a crypto exchange, that can affect functions such as operations, compliance workflows, customer processes or internal tooling, although Bloomberg did not report which specific teams are being reduced.

This is Luno’s second major workforce reduction in recent years. In January 2023, CoinDesk reported that the company cut 35% of its staff after what Luno described at the time as an extremely difficult year for the crypto market.

Luno is shifting toward crypto infrastructure

The job cuts come as Luno tries to grow its business-to-business arm, according to Bloomberg. The company wants lenders, fintech companies and telecom firms to offer crypto products under their own brands while Luno provides the services behind the scenes.

Those services include liquidity, wallet infrastructure and compliance, Bloomberg reported. Liquidity means the ability to buy or sell an asset without causing a sharp price move, while wallet infrastructure refers to the systems that hold and move crypto for users.

Discovery Bank in Johannesburg is already working with Luno, and Lanigan told Bloomberg that more partners will be announced during the year.

Luno is also targeting non-U.S. stablecoins in emerging markets, according to Bloomberg. A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to track the value of another asset, often a national currency.

The company is a founding participant in ZARU, a rand-backed stablecoin whose other founders include Sanlam, Lesaka Technologies and EasyEquities, Bloomberg reported. Luno plans to use the same approach in other markets where local-currency infrastructure is limited, and Lanigan said its institutional settlement business can help lower cross-border money transfer costs.

Crypto firms are still cutting costs

Luno is part of a wider cost-cutting push across crypto companies. Decrypt reported that Crypto.com cut 12% of staff in March and framed the move as an enterprise-wide AI shift. Decrypt also reported Coinbase cut 14% in May, Dune Analytics cut 25%, and BitGo cut nearly 15% in June, with BitGo CEO Mike Belshe pointing to AI-powered infrastructure.

Block cut about 4,000 jobs in February, equal to roughly 40% of its workforce, according to Decrypt.

Some crypto businesses have gone further than layoffs. Decrypt reported that BitMEX plans to close on September 23, while BitMart announced an orderly wind-down after nine years. Roshan Dharia, CEO of investment firm Echo Base, told Decrypt the moves pointed to a period of significant consolidation in digital assets.

This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.