Compare Luno vs YouHodler

WARNING: Crypto withdrawals are severely restricted in Europe to a maximum of 500 euros per week.

In order to make withdrawals from Luno you must first enable send mode on the app. Once you requested that this mode is enabled you will then need to wait 24 hours before the mode is enabled. Whilst this does provide extra security, it can be annoying if you want to withdraw the funds quickly and have not already enabled this mode.

In our tests, withdrawals were processed quickly once "send mode" had been enabled. Withdrawal requests were processed by Luno within a few minutes of the request being made and funds were normally received in less than a hour.

Luno does not charge withdrawal fees, however you do still have to pay the network fee to withdraw from the platform. This fee will be deducted form the amount that is sent.

There is no record of Luno ever having frozen withdrawals.

In order to be eligible to make withdrawals you need to have completed the platform Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks.

The minimum withdrawal amount for cryptocurrencies is 5 USD and for stablecoins is 50 USD. Most crypto withdrawals do not attract fees, but this does vary by currency.

In our experience withdrawals are very fast, and appear to be automatically processed as soon as the request is made.

Many customer reviews mention how smooth the withdrawal process is.

There is no record of YouHodler ever having frozen withdrawals.

Luno offers the usual security features to prevent unauthorised access to crypto assets. The majority of crypto assets are stored in cold storage, secured and insured by BitGo. A hot wallet is used to store working capital and this wallet is a three key multisignature wallet, meaning that more than one key is required to access the funds and each key is stored in a different, secure location. Two factor authentication is available within the Luno app to make access to your account more secure.

Luno employs Mazars, an accountancy firm, to independently verify that the value of the crypto assets stored with Luno do actually exist. An example of the report can be found here. This audit is undertaken quarterly. It should be noted that the the audit verifies that the total value of the assets currently held by Luno exceeds the total value of customer liabilities (deposits). This demonstrates that any loans that Luno has made of depositor's funds have been overcollareralised (i.e. Luno has secured collateral of a greater value than the loan amount before granting the loan). The audit does not consider the liquidity of those collateral assets, meaning how easy it would be to sell those assets at market value if Luno was forced to sell them to cover a bad debt.

In order to generate yield, Luno lends out funds via Genesis, the world's largest digital asset lender. The exact lending strategy used and types of loans issued is not clear, but some reassurance can be taken from that the all loans are granted through this provider and the Mazar's indpendent audit proves that Luno has overcollateralised its loans.

Luno has embraced regulation and sought to preempt regulatory obligations by implementing some of the anticpiate policies before they were forced to do so.

Luno are very careful to prevent unauthorised withdrawals. By default, withdrawals from your wallet are not enabled. You will need to manually enabled "send mode" to allow withdrawals, and as an additional security precaution, this takes 24 hours to be activated.

YouHodler offers two factor authentication on accounts to increase security against unauthorised access.

Fiat deposits are stored with reputable banks and crypto deposits are stored with Ledger Vault and covered by $150m insurance.

YouHodler is unique in its approach to yield generation. Unlike most other platforms, YouHodler does not lend funds outside of the platform. YouHodler does not invest funds into liquidity pools, DeFi protocols or other high-risk strategies. All yield is generated within the YouHodler platform through interest on loans taken out on the platform and fees charged by the platform.

We were unable to find any independent proof of reserves for YouHodler. Such proof would normally be undertaken by an independent accountant and would verify that the platform holds assets of greater value than customer liabilities (deposits). We hope YouHodler will look to introduce this in the future as it provides significant reassurance that the platform holds sufficient funds to repay all customer deposits if required.

YouHodler does provide a page of interesting stats about the platform. These stats include a chart which compares YouHodler's revenue against interest payments. The chart shows that revenue exceeds interest payments, although in some quarters the revenue has only marginally been higher than interest payments. Nonetheless, the chart provides some reassurance over the liquidity of the YouHodler platform.

YouHodler engages external security consultants to audit the security of the YouHodler platform.