South African cryptocurrency exchange Luno has acquired GTXN, a Kenyan cross-border payments provider, for an undisclosed amount. The transaction gives the company greater control over the infrastructure used to move money across borders — less the addition of another payments business than an effort to bring the underlying payment rails in-house.

Founded in 2013, Luno is among the longest-established cryptocurrency exchanges serving African markets and operates across Europe, Africa, and Asia. New York-based Digital Currency Group acquired the company in 2020.

GTXN provides foreign-exchange, collection, and payout services to businesses across East Africa, and Luno's accompanying press release describes GTXN as a licensed Kenyan fund manager. Its infrastructure allows Luno to connect its liquidity directly with local payment networks, reducing reliance on the multiple banking intermediaries that can add cost, delays, and complexity to cross-border transfers.

The deal hands Luno control over a part of the transaction flow that previously sat outside the exchange. GTXN founder Dan Kleinbaum will remain chief executive of the business.

The acquisition also strengthens Luno's push beyond crypto trading into stablecoins, institutional settlement, and cross-border payments — a shift that mirrors a wider industry move by trading platforms into regulated payment and settlement services. Stablecoins — digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies such as the US dollar — are widely used as a bridge for moving value between markets. By combining digital-asset liquidity with regulated local payment infrastructure, Luno can participate in more of each transaction, from collecting funds in one market to settling them in another.

For Luno, GTXN is therefore less an acquisition of a fintech than an acquisition of the regulated rails needed to turn crypto liquidity into usable financial infrastructure. With the purchase price undisclosed, how prominently GTXN's local rails feature in Luno's stablecoin and institutional settlement services going forward will indicate how central the acquisition becomes to the exchange's business beyond trading.