VALR, a global crypto exchange and Africa’s largest digital asset trading platform by volume, is celebrating its 7th birthday today, March 20, according to the reports shared with Finbold.
The early days of VALR
The platform was born in March 2018 from a vision to create a financial system that offers accessible and affordable financial services that overcome geographical boundaries.
Nine months later, the website was officially launched, attracting over 1,000 sign-ups on day one.
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By June 2019, VALR had introduced its first ZAR trading pair (Bitcoin (BTC)/ZAR), deepening liquidity in the South African crypto market.
In 2020, the platform started seeing rapid growth, with trading volumes increasing 5x during the period of increasing cryptocurrency adoption.
The following year, VALR distributed over R50 million in rewards and rebates in an effort to strengthen community ties.
VALR’s further growth
Already having established a decent reputation, VALR once again surprised the market in 2022 by raising $50 million in the largest crypto funding round in Africa at the time.
This funding round further incentivized the company to work toward an inclusive financial system.
It finally capitalized on the momentum in 2023, when total crypto trades on the platform surpassed $10 billion.
The same year, VALR launched perpetual futures trading with the world’s first BTC and Tether (USDT) perpetual futures paired against the South African Rand.
In 2024, the exchange saw two additional breakthroughs, hitting 1 million users and securing both Category I and Category II licenses from South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).
The future of VALR
Seven years later, VALR provides its services to over 1 million retail users and some 1,300 corporate and institutional clients, including banks, wealth managers, and fintech giants.
Looking ahead, VALR promises to remain committed to decentralized finance (DeFi) and contribute further to crypto accessibility not just in Africa but globally.
