DURBAN - Luno customers can now earn up to 4 percent interest per annum on their Bitcoin holdings through the Luno savings wallet.
The new offering from LUno will allow Bitcoin customers to earn passive income on their balance with little effort and no penalties.
“In a time of economic uncertainty, the Bitcoin savings wallet is an alternative for anyone looking to get meaningful savings on their money. Almost 95 percent of our customers have said they want to earn interest on their Bitcoin, and because of the nature of Bitcoin, we are able to offer a much higher interest rate than traditional savings accounts in certain regions (Europe for example) and comparable to flexible interest offerings in emerging markets such as South Africa. As traditional investments have shown vulnerability at a time of crisis during 2020, there has never been a better time to benefit from a currency that does not rely on a healthy economy to determine its value,” said Marcus Swanepoel, CEO and co-founder of Luno.
The interest rate offered by South Africa’s large banks ranges between 1% and 4% per annum on flexible savings accounts.
Research conducted by Luno has found that 40 percent of those surveyed lacked confidence in their local currency, while 95 percent of active South African Luno customers indicated that they would use a savings wallet that offered interest on their Bitcoin balance.
A high percentage of South Africans who own cryptocurrency do so for speculative investment purposes, with the majority holding their Bitcoin for the long term (or HODLing in crypto-speak).
“More than 55 percent of South African customers indicated that they do not have investments other than crypto. It’s important to diversify investments given how new the Bitcoin industry is. Those who hold Bitcoin will no doubt find the interest earning potential attractive,” said Marius Reitz, GM for Africa at Luno
While the price of Bitcoin is notoriously volatile, its long-term price trajectory has risen steadily. In a strong bullish signal, Bitcoin just set a new record of over 84 days closing above $10,000. Bitcoin is currently trading around $11,467 / R196,565 on Luno.
Bitcoin has outperformed all major stock market indices (and gold) in 2020 and Luno’s research shows that at least half of people globally would like a single global currency.
Key features of the Luno Bitcoin savings wallet include:
1. Up to 4 percent interest per annum on your Bitcoin balance
There are no fixed terms, no admin fees, and your funds can be moved into your normal wallet whenever you need them.
2. Interest is paid on the first of the month
You can choose to leave your earnings in your savings wallet to compound and grow exponentially, or you can withdraw straight away.
Saving 1 BTC at an interest rate of 4% per annum would generate the customer 0.04 BTC per annum (around R8,000 / $40.00 USD at the time of writing).
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