Luno Obtains Bermuda BMA License to Power Global Institutional Crypto Services & ZARU Settlement

What to Know:

• Luno secured a Class F Digital Asset Business License from Bermuda’s financial regulator, the BMA.
• The license lets Luno offer institutional OTC trading, custody, and settlement services outside Africa and Asia-Pacific.
• Luno’s international arm can now trade crypto, tokenised stocks, and the rand-backed stablecoin ZARU.
• Yellow Card, Wapi Pay, and VALR have also recently secured licenses in Switzerland, Canada, and the Cayman Islands.
• Luno’s move is part of a broader trend of African crypto firms increasing regulatory footprint while building global settlement infrastructure.

Luno Steps onto the Global Stage via Bermuda

Luno International Ltd has secured a Class F Digital Asset Business (DAB) license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). The license enables Luno to deliver OTC trading, Crypto-as-a-Service, and Global settlement infrastructure to its institutional and B2B clients.

Practically, a Class F license from the BMA covers a wide range of activities, including issuing and redeeming digital assets, custody, exchange, and payments infrastructure. The regulatory approval signals Luno’s evolution beyond retail crypto trading in its core African and Asia-Pacific markets to global institutional services.

ZARU and the African Stablecoin Surge

Among the assets now tradable through Luno’s Bermuda entity is ZARU. ZARU is a rand-backed stablecoin issued by an affiliate within Luno’s corporate group, BlockTowerTech, alongside partners including Sanlam, EasyEquities, and Lesaka.

This focus on stablecoin infrastructure reflects shifts in demand on the ground. New reports indicate that stablecoin spending grew from just 2% of crypto transaction volumes to 44% in just three years. This surge wasn’t driven solely by the use of dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT, but also by ZARU, which launched earlier this year.

Providing regulated offshore rails for assets like ZARU bridges the gap between regional African fiat liquidity and international institutional trading hubs.

Why African Crypto Giants Are Securing Foreign Licenses

Luno isn’t the only African crypto firm to secure an offshore license this year. Yellow Card, the pan-African stablecoin payments company, secured Swiss regulatory authorisation for institutional and corporate clients in mid-2026. Yellow Card, famed for its commitment to expanding its regulatory footprint, adds that license to a portfolio that already includes the first VASP license issued on the African continent.

Wapi Pay also secured a money services business (MSB) license in Canada, expanding its regulatory footprint to North America. VALR, the Johannesburg-based exchange, obtained a provisional Virtual Asset Service Provider license from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority in May 2026, adding to its existing FSCA licensing in South Africa.

Three forces appear to be driving this wave of offshore licensing. First, local banking partners across much of Africa often struggle with foreign-currency liquidity or outright restrict crypto-related accounts.

Bermuda, Switzerland, and the Cayman Islands are among the world’s leading offshore financial centres. Securing a license there can open tier-one correspondent banking relationships that would otherwise be hard to secure.

Second, spreading regulatory exposure across multiple jurisdictions reduces the risk that a single domestic policy shift could disrupt an entire business.

Third, foreign licenses carry weight with the institutional clients these companies are chasing. Global funds and multinational treasuries, the type of clients Luno would be looking to secure, generally want counterparties regulated in jurisdictions they already trust.

From Regional Platforms to Global Infrastructure

Securing foreign licenses doesn’t mean African exchanges are leaving their home markets. Luno’s core African and Asia-Pacific retail business is unaffected by the Bermuda license. One could even argue that offshore infrastructure is designed to route international liquidity back toward local corridors, including ZARU itself.

This wave of offshore licensing shows a shift in ambition. YellowCard recently shut down the retail arm of their business to focus on institutional services. Platforms that built their user base as regional retail brokerages are now assembling the licensing stack needed to operate as global settlement infrastructure. They want to compete for institutional flows rather than just local trading volume.