Luno, a regulated digital asset platform operating across multiple emerging markets, has acquired GTXN, a Kenya-licensed cross-border payments company and fund manager, and has appointed payments industry veteran Dan Kleinbaum as GTXN's chief executive officer.

The acquisition gives Luno licensed rails to collect and pay out money across the corridors that link developed and emerging markets, offered to enterprise clients as a single settlement flow. The announcement was published as a press release by Kenyan cryptocurrency news outlet BitcoinKE. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A Persistent Problem in Cross-Border Payments

Cross-border payments have become one of the defining problems in financial services, and enterprise demand for quicker, cheaper ways to move money between markets keeps climbing. The hardest part of the challenge sits in the corridors that connect developed economies to emerging ones. Correspondent banking rails move slowly, local licensing has to be won market by market, and the payment infrastructure on the ground is often thin — leaving the entire category expensive and underserved long after the technology to fix it exists. Under the correspondent banking model, a single payment typically passes through several intermediary banks, with each hop adding time and cost before funds reach their destination.

Luno has spent more than a decade building its standing in these same markets. The company holds regulatory approvals across its core regions, runs deep liquidity, and carries a brand that banks and enterprises already trust. The GTXN acquisition brings licensed collection and payout infrastructure inside that footprint.

For a client, the effect is simple: money moves in and out through one provider, over rails the group now owns, and is settled against Luno's liquidity. GTXN will operate as the group's cross-border payments capability.

"Moving money between developed and emerging markets is still too slow and too expensive, and our clients feel it every day," said James Lanigan, chief executive officer of Luno. "We have spent years earning the licences and the trust it takes to operate in these corridors, and building the liquidity underneath. GTXN gives us the payment rails to match. Clients get one provider for the whole flow, which is what they have been asking us for."

Dan Kleinbaum to Lead GTXN

Kleinbaum takes over as chief executive of GTXN, bringing more than a decade of experience building payments infrastructure in emerging markets. He co-founded Beyonic, a mobile-money platform that operated across seven African markets and was acquired in 2020 by Onafriq, formerly known as MFS Africa. He went on to build an FX and cross-border treasury business serving corporates and institutions in East Africa.

"I have spent my career making payments work in markets the rest of the world finds hard to reach," said Kleinbaum. "What drew me to Luno is the foundation. Very few companies have the liquidity and the regulatory standing to run cross-border settlement at real scale in these regions. With that behind us, we can build something that has been out of reach for most of the industry."

The announcement did not include a timeline for folding GTXN's collection and payout rails into Luno's enterprise offering, leaving the pace of the rollout across Luno's markets to be seen.

About GTXN

GTXN is a cross-border payments company and part of Luno. It provides collection and payout infrastructure across developed and emerging market corridors, supported by a licensing footprint for regulated cross-border flows. GTXN is led by chief executive officer Dan Kleinbaum.

Website: GTXN.com

Source: BitcoinKE