Luno has acquired Kenyan cross-border payments provider GTXN Global in an undisclosed transaction, bringing licensed collection and payout infrastructure into the cryptocurrency platform’s operations as it expands further into cross-border payments and institutional settlement.
GTXN will operate as Luno’s cross-border payments capability, providing businesses with a more integrated route for moving money between developed and emerging markets. GTXN founder Dan Kleinbaum will remain chief executive of the business.
Luno Moves Beyond Crypto Trading
The acquisition represents another step in Luno’s broader expansion beyond its traditional cryptocurrency exchange business.
According to Luno, GTXN’s infrastructure allows businesses to collect and make payments through a single provider, with transactions moving through Luno-controlled rails and settling against its liquidity. The company said this can reduce the number of intermediaries involved in cross-border transactions and potentially improve settlement speed and pricing.
Cross-border payments between developed and emerging markets can involve multiple correspondent banks, currency conversions, fees, and compliance checks. Luno said bringing GTXN’s infrastructure into its existing footprint is intended to simplify that process.
GTXN’s collection and payout infrastructure will now sit within Luno’s operations, giving the group direct control over another part of the payment flow rather than depending entirely on external intermediaries.
Why GTXN Matters
GTXN brings more than payment technology to the deal. The company is a Kenyan cross-border payments provider and licensed fund manager, with experience in foreign exchange and corporate cross-border treasury services.
Kleinbaum previously co-founded Beyonic, a mobile-money platform operating across seven African markets that was acquired by Onafriq, formerly MFS Africa, in 2020. He subsequently built GTXN around foreign exchange and cross-border treasury services for corporates and institutions in East Africa.
That experience gives Luno an established team and infrastructure layer focused specifically on business-to-business money movement.
For Luno, the acquisition therefore adds a payments capability that complements its existing digital-asset liquidity and regulatory footprint.
Part of Luno’s Institutional Expansion
The GTXN acquisition also follows a period of significant restructuring at Luno.
The company has been expanding its activities around stablecoins, wallet infrastructure and institutional settlement, while continuing to operate its retail cryptocurrency business. GTXN fits most directly into the institutional and settlement side of that strategy.
Luno has also continued to expand its regulatory presence across African markets. Its Nigerian entity received approval-in-principle from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission in July to participate in the regulator’s Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme.
In August, Luno also secured a digital-asset licence in Bermuda as part of its broader institutional and business-to-business expansion.
The combination points toward a model in which cryptocurrency infrastructure, stablecoins, liquidity and regulated payment rails increasingly operate alongside one another rather than as separate businesses.
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Africa’s Cross-Border Payments Market
The acquisition comes as African fintech companies increasingly focus on the infrastructure required to move money across fragmented national payment systems.
Companies such as Onafriq have been expanding stablecoin-based settlement across African markets, while other infrastructure providers are building networks that connect local currencies, banks, mobile-money systems, and digital assets.
Luno’s approach with GTXN is different: the company is acquiring an existing regulated payments infrastructure business and integrating it into its own liquidity and regulatory footprint.
That could give Luno greater control over the movement of funds across supported corridors while reducing its reliance on layers of external intermediaries.
For African businesses, the longer-term significance may be less about cryptocurrency trading and more about whether digital-asset companies can become part of the underlying infrastructure for international commerce.
What Comes Next
Neither Luno nor GTXN disclosed the financial terms of the acquisition.
GTXN will operate as Luno’s cross-border payments capability under Kleinbaum’s leadership, with the infrastructure initially focused on corridors connecting developed and emerging markets.
The acquisition adds another piece to Luno’s evolving institutional strategy: digital assets provide liquidity and settlement capabilities, while regulated payment infrastructure provides the rails through which businesses can move money.
As African markets continue developing their regulatory frameworks for digital assets and cross-border transactions, the intersection between those two systems could become an increasingly important part of the continent’s financial infrastructure.
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