Cryptocurrencies are making a huge impact in the world because since the year 2017, cryptocurrency startups have raised over $20 billion via ICOs and this shows an industry that is here to stay. In South Africa, the cryptocurrency industry is growing at a rapid pace and several people living in South Africa are beginning to take interest in cryptos, however, despite all the benefits brought about by cryptocurrencies, there also is a huge number of people who still do not trust cryptos and would rather stick to the Fiat currency. There is therefore a need for crypto exchanges to educate people about this new currency. The traders who already understand cryptos are faced with the difficult task of choosing the best crypto exchange which suits their trading requirements because there is so many of them operating in South Africa at the moment. Choosing the best crypto exchange can be challenging because there is a great deal of factors to asses before making the decision on your preferred crypto exchange, such factors include safety, supported tokens, fees, customer service, wallet security, minimum account balances amongst others. This article is a comparison between two popular crypto exchanges in VALR vs Luno and this will obviously help you to make a decision on which one satisfies your trading requirements between the two crypto exchanges.
What is VALR?
VALR is a very popular cryptocurrency exchange which is based in South Africa. VALR is very popular because it offers its customers an opportunity to trade in a number of cryptos including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other cryptos. VALR provides a digital asset platform that allows our customers to buy, sell, store and transfer cryptocurrencies seamlessly and securely, the main idea behind the creation of VALR was to help bridge the gap between our traditional fiat financial system and the new world of cryptocurrencies. It is important to note that instantaneous exchange and margin trading are available (but no leverage). The South African rand (ZAR) is the only fiat fund represented on the platform. Unlike other exchanges with huge minimum deposits, you can actually buy Bitcoins for as little as 10 ZAR. VALR has a great online presence as it is available on the desktop site and it also has a mobile App which is available for iOS and Android for mobile trading. The company also offers a referral program with four levels of reward.
What is Luno?
Luno is a seasoned international cryptocurrency exchange and payment service company which has been in existence for 9 years now having been founded in the year 2013. With Luno, you know that you are trading with a crypto exchange that has a wealth of experience because the company operates in over 40 countries including United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa amongst other countries. The main reason why Luno was created was to empower billions of people across the world by upgrading them to a more open, efficient, and inclusive financial system. Luno is just a platform where people use to buy and sell their cryptocurrencies, so in a way the company connects buyers to sellers. Luno offers a wide range of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, XRP, Litecoin amongst others. Luno offers a platform which is very easy to send, receive and spend your crypto and fiat, but if you are struggling to trade, there is a Learning Portal and blog and this serves the purpose of providing education for beginner bitcoin trader.
How many cryptocurrencies does VALR and Luno offer?
VALR offers about 60 cryptocurrencies on its platform and this is a great deal indeed. Below is a list of the coins on the platform;
Bitcoin Ethereum Binance Coin
Solana USD Coin XRP
Aave Cardano Algorand
Aragon Bitcoin Cash Basic Attention Token
Bancor Bitcoin SV Celo
Compound Civic Crypto.com Coin
Dai Decred Digibyte
District0x DogeCoin Polkadot
Enjin Coin EOS Ethereum Classic
Expanse GameCredits Gnosis
Golem Komodo Chainlink
Lisk Litecoin Decentraland
Polygon MonaCoin OmiseGO
Pivx Paxos Standard TenX Pay Token
Quant Qtum Augur
REPV2 iEx.ec RLC
Siacoin StormX Status Network Token
Storj TRON TrueUSD
Uniswap VeChain Vertcoin
Waves Lumen Tezos
0x Protocol
Luno offers a total of 8 cryptocurrencies on its platform, although they offer Bitcoin and Ethereum which are arguably the most popular coins, Luno has to try and offer more coins so that traders have options when trading. Below is a list of the coins on the platform;
Bitcoin
Ethereum
Ripple
Bitcoin Cash
Litecoin
Uniswap
Chainlink
USD Coin
If you are looking for a crypto exchange with many coins (which you should), then you will have to go with VALR because it offers way more than what Luno is offering.
What is the taker and maker fees for both VALR and Luno?
You will obviously know that cryptocurrency traders have to pay trading fees for trading on an exchange and these trading fees depend on a number of factors including the types of orders placed. There is what is called takers and makers in the cryptocurrency industry. Makers create a market for other traders and bring liquidity to an exchangeTakers remove liquidity by “taking” available orders that are filled immediately, please note that taker fees are usually slightly higher than maker fees to incentivise market makers.
The VALR taker fee stands at 0.10% whilst the Luno taker fee is between 0.03% and 0.10%.
The VALR maker fee stands at -0.01% whilst the Luno maker fee is also 0% . You will notice that VALR is offering a negative maker fee, what this actually means is that the makers get paid to trade.
What are the withdrawal fees for both VALR and Luno?
Withdrawal fees is one area which you should also look at carefully because you do not need to trade with a company that has unreasonable charges which then leaves you with way less than you were supposed to get. Below are the withdrawal charges for both crypto exchanges;
VALR Withdrawals
ZAR: R8.50
Crypto: variable*
USDC via USD wire transfer: $25
Fast Withdrawal for Rands to Standard Bank: Auto-enabled & FREE
Fast Withdrawal for Rands to To RTC banks (see list in the link above): R60
Fast Withdrawal for Rands to other banks & amounts >=R5 million: R165
Luno Withdrawals
ZAR (EFT) – Free
What are the deposit fees for both VALR and Luno?
Making deposits is something you will be doing often in your trading journey so you need to trade with a company that does not have exorbitant deposit fees, below are the deposit fees for both VALR and Luno.
VALR Deposits
ZAR – Free
Crypto – Free
USDC via USD wire transfer – $10
Luno Deposits
ZAR (Cash Deposit) – R 20.00 + 5.00%
ZAR (EFT) – Free
ZAR (Instant EFT) – 1.40%