Luno vs Tokenize – Which Platform Is Better?

Last updated on June 6th, 2021

When you are looking to buy cryptocurrencies, 2 platforms you may come across are Luno and Tokenize.

Which platform is better and which should you choose?

Here’s what you need to know:

The difference between Luno and Tokenize

Luno charges lower trading fees compared to Tokenize on their Exchange platform. However, Tokenize allows you to buy a larger variety of cryptocurrencies directly from SGD. If you are looking for rarer altcoins, you may have to pay a higher fee to trade them on Tokenize.

Here’s an in-depth comparison between these 2 platforms:

Founder

Luno is based in London and was founded earlier in 2012. They are found in 40 countries, including Singapore, UK and Australia.

Meanwhile, Tokenize was released in early 2018, which is around 6 years later.

Number of currencies

Luno allows you to trade in 6 currencies:

1. BTC
2. BCH
3. ETH
4. XRP
5. LTC
6. USDC

These currencies are the more well-known ones that have been around for quite a while!

You can trade these cryptocurrencies on Luno’s exchange platform as well.

Tokenize supports 30 cryptocurrencies

Tokenize has a much larger offering, as they allow you to trade 30 different currencies from your SGD!

Some currencies that are found on Tokenize, but not on Luno include:

1. DOGE
2. ZIL
3. ADA

You are also able to deposit USD into the account, and purchase the same 30 currencies.

Methods of funding your account

To start buying crypto on either exchange, you will need to fund your account. Here are some ways you can do so:

#1 Xfers

You can deposit your SGD into either Luno or Tokenize using Xfers.

Xfers is a payment solution that allow you to transfer your money securely into the crypto platforms.

It sort of acts like the middleman between your bank accounts and the exchanges.

However, you will need to first transfer your SGD to your Xfers account via FAST. After that, you can transfer your SGD from your Xfers account to Luno or Tokenize.

However, you will be charged a deposit fee for using Xfers to deposit your funds!

#2 Bank transfer

Tokenize provides support for both SGD and USD. However, you can’t transfer your SGD to their platform using FAST.

You can only do so if you’re a Premium or Platinum member.

As such, you can only deposit USD via a bank transfer.

The process may be rather troublesome, and you may incur some fees as well!

As such, you’ll need to decide if it’s worth the hassle to deposit USD into Tokenize.

Buying crypto

After you’ve funded your account, you will need to purchase your crypto. There are a few ways you can do so:

#1 Instant buy (Luno)

When you purchase crypto on Luno’s app, you will be using their Instant Buy feature.

You can only buy the crypto at the prevailing market rate, which you can see on the ‘Buy’ page.

This is the most convenient way of buying crypto, as you’ll get your crypto instantly.

However, you will be charged quite high fees as well!

#3 Trade (Luno and Tokenize)

Both Luno and Tokenize allow you to make trades on their platforms.

Here is Tokenize’s platform,

as well as Luno’s.

However, Luno only has a SGD trading pair with BTC.

This means that you can only buy BTC using your SGD on the Exchange. In contrast, you are able to buy all 6 currencies if you use the Instant Buy feature.

Meanwhile, Tokenize provides many more trading pairs with SGD.

As such, you are able to buy a wider variety of cryptocurrencies directly from your SGD, like ADA, ZIL or DOGE.

Here are the types of orders that you can place on both exchanges:

Order Type	Luno	Tokenize
Limit	✓	✓
Market	✓	✓
Stop-limit	✓	✕

The way both exchange platforms work are somewhat similar to a brokerage platform like Tiger Brokers.

Withdrawal of funds

Luno allows you to transfer your funds to your Xfers wallet.

Meanwhile, Tokenize only allows you to withdraw your funds via Xfers Direct Charge.

This will incur additional withdrawal fees for you.

Sending and receiving crypto

Luno allows you to send and receive crypto from external wallets for all 6 currencies.

Meanwhile, you may not be able to send all of the currencies on Tokenize to another platform or wallet.

The same goes for Tokenize, where the currencies that you can’t send or receive will be slightly dimmer.

In the picture above, you can’t send or receive Cardano, Kusama or Graph Token.

Fees

The most important thing when it comes to trading crypto are the fees. You should try to minimise your fees as much as possible!

Here are some of the fees you may incur when using either platform:

#1 Depositing and withdrawing fees

Here are the fees you’ll incur when depositing into or withdrawing from these platforms:

Platform	Deposit Fees	Withdrawal Fees
Luno	None	None
Tokenize	0.55% (Xfers)	0.55% (Xfers) SGD $100 admin fee if trading volume < SGD 1,000

Luno is definitely the more cost effective platform, especially if you make multiple deposits and withdrawals.

#2 Buying and selling crypto

Here are the fees that you’ll be charged for both exchanges:

Luno has lower fees if you use their Exchange

If you want to use Luno’s instant buy function, you will incur a 1% fee.

This is similar to the fee that Coinhako charges.

However, Luno has an Exchange platform as well.

Luno charges you the trading fee based on your 30-day trade volume:

Trade Volume	Fee
SGD 0.00 – SGD 349,999.99	0.10%
SGD 350,000.00 – SGD 699,999.99	0.09%
SGD 700,000.00 – SGD 1,399,999.99	0.08%

There are much higher trade volumes, but I do not think you will hit those amounts.

Even at the lowest tier, the fee charged by Luno is really low.

At 0.10%, it is cheaper compared to most platforms!

The only drawback is that the Luno Exchange only has BTC/SGD as their SGD trading pair.

If you wish to buy the other 5 currencies on Luno, you will have to make at least 2 trades on the Exchange platform.

Tokenize charges a trading fee of 0.80% (min $1)

Tokenize charges a 0.80% fee for all of their trades. However, it has a minimum fee of $1.

You’ll need to take this minimum fee into consideration if you are only trading a small amount!

If you are comparing both exchange platforms, Luno is cheaper if you just intend to trade the 6 currencies on their platform.

#3 Sending and receiving fees

You may want to send or receive your crypto from an external wallet.

For Luno, the fees for most currencies that you send are dynamic. This depends on the network demand and traffic when you’re sending your crypto.

The only exception is the fixed fee for sending XRP (0.3%).

For Tokenize, the fees depend on the crypto that you’re withdrawing.

The fees are a fixed rate for each currency.

If you want to receive crypto from an external wallet, no fees are charged by either exchange.

However, you’ll need to consider the fees you incur when sending crypto from your external wallets!

You can consider Gemini which does not charge you any fees for your first 10 withdrawals per month.

Limits and minimum amounts

Here are the minimum amounts you’ll need to trade on each platform:

Platform	Minimum Per Trade
Luno	$20
Tokenize	$20

Earning interest on your crypto

Both platforms have features that allow you to earn interest on your crypto. This is similar to other platforms, such as:

1. Celsius
2. BlockFi
3. Hodlnaut
4. Crypto.com Earn
5. Youhodler
6. Nexo

Luno has the Savings Wallet, which allows you to earn interest on your BTC, ETH or USDC.

The best part about the Luno Savings Wallet is that you can start with any amount.

Luno projects that you can earn up to 4% p.a. on your Bitcoin. However, the interest rate may fluctuate!

You are able to deposit 18 different currencies into Tokenize Earn.

You are able to earn on some currencies that can’t earn interest elsewhere, like Zilliqa or Sushi.

However, the minimum amount that you need to deposit is high for certain currencies. Most of them will require you to deposit around a $1,000 SGD equivalent of that currency.

Furthermore, your crypto has to be locked up for at least 30 days before you can withdraw it.

As such, Tokenize Earn may not be the best platform for you, if you only have a small capital.

Security

You may have heard of how crypto exchanges can be hacked, and these hackers can steal your cryptocurrencies!

So how do these platforms try and combat this?

Luno stores the majority of your currencies in a cold storage

Luno also uses 2 places to store your crypto:

1. Deep freeze storage
2. Hot wallet

Most of your funds are stored in the cold wallet.

However, some of your funds are in their hot wallet, in case you want to quickly withdraw them.

In the hot wallet, another set of keys are held with BitGo. They are considered to be a secure custodian of your crypto.

Once again, your crypto stored with Luno should be rather secure.

Luno provides 2FA to either your email or mobile phone whenever you login to your account.

Tokenize did not mention about their security protocols

Tokenize is less transparent regarding their security protocols.

On their website, they mentioned their security measures rather briefly.

This may be slightly worrying if you are very concerned about the security of the platform!

Platforms

Both exchanges have web and mobile platforms.

Luno has both a web platform,

as well as a mobile app.

Meanwhile, here is Tokenize’s web platform,

and their mobile app.

I feel that Luno’s user interface is much better compared to Tokenize.

Verdict

Here is a comparison between Luno and Tokenize:

	Luno	Tokenize
Year Founded	2012	2018
HQ	London	Singapore
Number of Currencies	6	30
Funding Methods	Xfers	Xfers  FAST (only for premium members)
Methods of Buying	SGD Wallet	Trading platform
Withdrawal of Funds	Xfers	Xfers
Deposit Fees	None	0.55% (Xfers) 0 (Inter-bank)
Withdrawal Fees	None	0.55% (Xfers)
Trading Fees	1% (Instant Buy) Up to 0.10% (Exchange)	0.80% Min. $1
Sending Fees	Dynamic (Except for XRP: 0.30%)	Fixed (depends on currency)
Minimum Per Trade	SGD $20	$20
Earn feature	Present (Up to 4%)	Present
Security	Cold storage + hot wallet	Not known
Platforms	Web + Mobile	Web + Mobile

So which platform should you choose?

Choose Luno for lower fees

If you are content with trading those 6 currencies in Luno, then this is the platform for you.

With its lower fees, you will save on:

1. Deposit and withdrawal fees
2. Trading fees (if you use Exchange)

Moreover, you can start earning interest on your BTC, ETH or USDC at any amount!

This makes the Luno Savings Wallet much more flexible compared to Tokenize Earn.

Choose Tokenize for a larger variety of currencies

Tokenize allows you to purchase a wider variety of currencies from SGD.

If you are looking to buy ‘rarer’ altcoins, then Tokenize is the platform for you.

The extra fees that you incur may be worth it in this case!

However, if you only wish to buy the more common currencies like ETH, LTC or XRP, there are cheaper alternatives available.

Moreover, Tokenize’s security features are not well known compared to other platforms.

I would only be confident in placing a small amount of my portfolio into Tokenize!

Conclusion

Both Luno and Tokenize are platforms that allow you to buy crypto directly from SGD.

However, they mainly differ in these aspects:

1. Number of currencies available
2. Presence / absence of deposit / withdrawal fees
3. Amount of interest for ‘Earn’ features
4. Trading fees incurred

👉🏻 Referral Deals

If you are interested in signing up for any of the products mentioned above, you can check them out below!

Luno Referral (Earn SGD $30 in Bitcoin)

If you are interested in signing up for a Luno account, you can use the referral code ‘T5N74J‘ or my referral link to sign up for an account.

You’ll be able to earn SGD $30 worth in Bitcoin!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Sign up for a Luno Account
2. Deposit and buy ≥ SGD $200 of BTC via Instant Buy
3. Receive SGD $30 in Bitcoin

You will need to purchase BTC using the Instant Buy function. The fees that you incur will be 0.75%.

It would be best to buy only $200 SGD worth of BTC, which only incurs you a $1.50 fee. The $30 SGD bonus will be able to offset the fee!

Tokenize Referral (Get 5 TKX worth ~ $25 SGD)

If you are interested in signing up for a Tokenize account, you can use my referral link.

You will be able to receive 5 TKX in your account (worth ~$25 SGD)!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Sign up for a Tokenize account
2. Trade at least $1000 USD worth of crypto
3. Receive 5 TKX in your Tokenize wallet

You can view details of this referral program on Tokenize’s website.

Receive a further SGD $50 worth of TKX when you upgrade to Premium

You are able to receive another SGD $50 worth of TKX if you upgrade to the Premium or Platinum membership of Tokenize.

You will need to pay 160 TKX to upgrade your membership to the Premium tier.

Once you have upgraded your membership tier, you will receive the TKX bonus!

You can view more information about this promotion on Tokenize’s website as well.

Are you passionate about personal finance and want to earn some flexible income?