New data from Luno reveals who’s buying crypto and what’s driving demand, as its newly launched tokenised stocks (xStocks) show remarkable early success in South Africa.
Source: Supplied. Christo de Wit, Luno’s South Africa country manager.
“19,000 South African customers have so far invested in xStocks with Nvidia (NVDAx), the clear favourite, with over 3,000 customers currently holding the stock. Meta (METAx), the S&P 500 ETF (SPYx), and Apple (AAPLx) are also popular," says Christo de Wit, Luno’s South Africa country manager.
While investment remains the primary use case, Luno Pay, the platform's payment feature, has seen remarkable traction. Since its launch in November 2024, over 50,000 completed payments have been processed across more than 1,700 merchants, representing a transaction volume of over R30m.
Notably, 70% of Luno Pay users are repeat customers. Though still a small fraction of the total user base, this represents early adoption of cryptocurrency for everyday transactions.
In addition, South Africans can pay with cryptocurrency at nearly 700,000 merchants across the country using Luno Pay, available at all Scan to Pay-enabled merchants.
Bitcoin remains king, altcoins gain ground
Bitcoin is still the most popular cryptocurrency in South Africa, with over 200,000 customers investing in the world's largest cryptocurrency in the past year. “This dominance is reflected both in trading volume and customer numbers, cementing Bitcoin's position as the gateway crypto for most South Africans,” explains de Wit.
The altcoin market is showing impressive momentum. Based on dollar volume, XRP is now in second spot, followed by Ethereum in third place. Solana has emerged as a standout performer, securing fourth place in both categories, indicating growing interest in newer blockchain technologies.
The meme coin phenomenon has grown, with Dogecoin rounding out the top five most popular cryptocurrencies on Luno. Tether (USDT), a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, completes the top five by volume, as South Africans use it as a haven during market volatility.
South Africans are increasingly sophisticated in their crypto strategies with staking showing immense growth this past year, with Luno now offering six staking wallets. It allows you to earn rewards on your crypto holdings by putting your crypto aside for a period of time. Ethereum is the most popular for staking, while Solana and Cardano follow as the second and third most staked cryptocurrencies.
This trend toward earning passive income from crypto holdings suggests South Africans view crypto assets as long-term investments rather than just speculative trading vehicles. Luno also recently launched USDC Earn, which generates an annual reward of up to 3.5% on USDC.
Women driving adoption
While men still dominate the market at 64%, women are now 36% of buyers, a notable increase suggesting that cryptocurrency is becoming more mainstream across gender lines.
The age breakdown shows crypto's appeal is strongest among working-age South Africans. The 25-34 age group makes up 37% of users, followed by 35-44 year-olds at 26%.
Younger adults aged 18-24 represent 15% of the market, while those aged 45-54 account for 13%. Even older demographics are getting involved, with 6% of users aged 55-64 and 3% over 65.
