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The average South African crypto buyer is most likely to be male, spends about R450 on the first purchase and holds onto it for about eight months, according to data from crypto platform Luno. 

According to Richard Ball, lead data scientist at Luno, interest in crypto is rising on the African continent. “South Africa is one of our strongest markets, in fact, South Africans make up about 43% of our verified customers. Over the past year, we verified more than three million new users worldwide. As we expand into new territories, the trend is starting to shift.”

South African customer behaviour 

South Africans usually start with an average first deposit of R450, an increase since the dip in Bitcoin in November last year, Ball says. “Most customers start with a relatively small deposit, while the top 25% of our biggest local customers start to buy crypto at around R1 500 and the highest deposit amount among our smallest 25% of customers is only around R90.” 

Ball says these metrics are good news for Luno, as they indicate that South Africans are investing in crypto responsibly.

According to Ball, the most popular crypto coins in South Africa are Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP, with more customers buying than selling. Almost 80% of the transactions on Luno are from people buying crypto, which provides a rough indication of how bullish customers are on the top three coins. 

“The greatest increase so far this year in demand is XRP, with a 25% price surge within a single week. USDC, a cryptocurrency linked to the US dollar, is the least popular on Luno’s platform, in line with its status as a stable coin.”

Ball says customers bought USDC during the market dip in the past few months. “When crypto prices fall, some customers buy into USDC to shield themselves from further market volatility. Once volatility has cooled down, traders will typically move from USDC back into crypto such as BTC. In some sense, this is in line with traditional financial markets where investors avoid risk and move to cash during periods of uncertainty.”

Who are South African crypto buyers? 

The local buyers are almost a mirror image of the global picture according to Luno. In line with the gender split in traditional financial services, more men are buying crypto in South Africa than women, with about 30% of the activity in the 18–29-year age bracket from women. However, in the 60+ age bracket, a greater percentage of women - about 46% - are active on Luno.

South African customers hold their crypto for an average of eight months, which is much longer than two years ago, with the exception of traders, who would naturally be more active, Ball says. “Overall, this indicates that South African customers increasingly view crypto as a longer-term investment and are not necessarily buying it to make a quick buck.”

Behaviour depends on when customers bought

Ball says Luno is noticing that customer behaviour varies depending on when customers first bought crypto. “We frequently perform cohort analysis to track the transactional behaviour of customers who first bought at a particular point in time. They are grouped into a cohort, for example, the 2017 or 2018 cohort. Customers who bought during the peaks in 2017 or 2021 tend to display different holding period behaviour compared to customers who bought when the price action was much flatter.”

Ball explains that customers who first bought when the price was surging, might be more speculative, while customers who buy when the markets are flat, tend to be longer-term investors. 

Using Luno’s savings wallets

Customers using Luno’s savings wallets can earn interest on their crypto holdings and Ball says about 7% of Luno’s customer base uses the savings wallet monthly. “There has been a 15% increase in local customers using the savings wallet over the past three months. The interest earned on crypto holdings via savings wallets is paid monthly. Luno customers can earn interest of up to 7.6% when they open a Luno savings wallet. Since South Africans are holding on to their crypto coins for longer, it makes sense to earn interest until they are ready to sell.”