A technical recession has not struck South Africa since 2009; and now, the South African…
Cryptocurrency exchanges in South Africa: Luno vs Coindirect
Is Luno really “The easiest way to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum”?
With cryptocurrency and blockchain technology revolutionising the efficiency and convenience of transacting, many emerging markets have started developing advanced DApps (decentralised applications) to offer customers the best experience – and we don’t just mean Luno.
Coindirect is proliferating the emerging markets, as well as the developed world, in order to:
- Speed up cryptocurrency adoption in third world countries
- Tackle the issues of credit card and banking integration
- Help emerging markets avoid remittance
Image: coindirect
With most South African cryptocurrency markets, like Luno, only offering Bitcoin and Ethereum, Coindirect proceeds to accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin and altcoins by enabling local cryptocurrency buyers and sellers to invest in Bitcoin and over 40 alternative cryptocurrencies on its peer-to-peer marketplace, wallet and exchange.
With the current condition of the South African climate – South Africa 2018 recession – fiat currency prices are unstable; increasing conversion fees. By supporting fiat and crypto trading like Tether (USDT) which is backed by the US Dollar, cryptocurrency can be used in remittance to avoid paying exorbitant cross-border charges brought by fiat transfers.
These are just a few of many of Coindirect’s peer-to-peer and cryptocurrency exchange use cases. However, also taking presence around the world, Luno is educating cryptocurrency holders on Bitcoin and Ethereum and provides a cryptocurrency wallet along with an instant buy/sell service for BTC and ETH.
Image: Luno
South African Cryptocurrency Exchanges:
Luno vs. Coindirect
| FEATURES | LUNO | COINDIRECT |
| Supported countries | Europe*, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa | Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom |
| Supported crypto wallets | Bitcoin, Ethereum | Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, Lumen, Litecoin, Tether, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Monero, Dash, IOTA, Tronix, NEO, Ethereum Classic, NEM, VeChainThor, Dogecoin, ZCash, OmiseGo, Lisk, Bitcoin Gold, Qtum, Digibyte, Icon, Waves, STEEM, Verge, Siacoin, Golem, Stratis, Waltonchain, ReddCoin, Zencash, Ark, NXT, Civic, STORJ, Salt, Zclassic, NAVCoin, Breakout Stake |
| Peer-to-peer Marketplace | No | Yes |
| Cryptocurrency exchange | Yes | Yes |
| Supported trading pairs | BTC/EUR, BTC/IDR, BTC/MYR, BTC/NGN, BTC/ZAR, ETH/BTC |
BTC/ZAR, ETH/ZAR, XRP/ZAR, LTC/ZAR, BCH/ZAR, USDT/ZAR, LTC/BTC, BCH/BTC, ETH/BTC, XRP/BTC, XRP/USDT, LTC/USDT, BCH/USDT, ETH/USDT, BTC/USDT |
| Deposit fee | 1.5% in Nigeria only | Free or 20ZAR for a cash deposit at a bank branch plus 5% of the deposit value |
| Withdrawal fee | 0.3EUR, 6,500.00IDR, 0.32MYR, 200.00NGN, 8.50ZAR | South Africa only – 10ZAR |
| Send/receive fee | free or 0.0002BTC if received by public Bitcoin address | Free, however, the external platform that you are using may charge a fee to send or receive |
| Buy/sell fee | 0.0005 to 2 BTC depending on country | Wallet and P2P trades – 0.25% for crypto-to-crypto, 0.75% for fiat-to-crypto |
| Trading fee | 0.2% – 1% (taker only) | 0.2% to 0.8% (taker only) |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Verification methods | Email, Phone Number, ID, Proof of address |
Selfie, Proof of address, ID/passport |
| Security | Deep frees storage or Hot wallet, Two-factor authentication (2FA) | Cold wallet, Two-factor authentication (2FA) |
| Payment methods | SEPA, PayU, Bank transfer, Interbank GIRO / IBFT, EFT | SEPA, M-Pesa, PayPal, TransferWise, Local bank transfer, Direct ZAR EFT into ZAR wallet, ZAR bank transfer to Coindirect |
| Vendor portal | No | Yes |
| Affiliate program | No | Yes |
| Discounts/Offers | No | Yes: 50% off trading fees until the end of October 2018 (0.1% on crypto-to-crypto trades and 0.4% on fiat-to-crypto trades) |
Coindirect and Luno both offer seamless ways to buy cryptocurrency.
What ultimately differentiates Coindirect from Luno and many of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges is that Coindirect has released its own integrated trading exchange in 26 countries alongside its peer-to-peer marketplace and wallet which already supports Bitcoin and over 40 altcoins, including ERC-20 tokens.
This makes Coindirect the first cryptocurrency exchange in Africa with a comprehensive offering under one roof.
Access our integrated platform and #OwnTheFuture with Coindirect.
