Glossary

TLAs

AML

Anti-Money-Laundering. A policy to which each exchange adheres in order to minimise money laundering and fraudulent activities.

KYC

Know-Your-Client. A process where an exchange is required to gather information about you and amongst other things determine the source of your funds.

BTC

Bitcoin’s pair code, also sometimes referred to as XBT (notably on Luno).

SDA

Single Discretionary Allowance. See below.

FIA

Foreign Investment Allowance. See below.

FX

Foreign eXchange. Conversion of local currency for a foreign one.

FSP

Short for Financial Service Provider. See below.

2FA

Two-Factor-Authentication. See below.

TLA

Three (or two) Letter Acronyms.

Words

Arb

Arbitrage. See below.

Loop

A loop, also known within Lumina as an ‘Orbit’, refers to the process of arbitrage, from sending money out of your foreign exchange holding account, to receiving it back in the same foreign exchange holding account.

Bitcoin

A decentralised cryptocurrency based on the blockchain. 

Cryptocurrency

A digital currency in which uses encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

Arbitrage

Simultaneously buying and selling of securities, currency, or commodities in different markets or in derivative forms in order to take advantage of differing prices for the same asset.

Exchange

An exchange which allows for the buying and selling of digital assets.

Single Discretionary Allowance

The amount each South African resident over the age of 18 can send without any documentation or prior approval during the course of the calendar year. Currently at R1m.

Foreign Investment Allowance

The amount each South African resident over the age of 18 can send after obtaining documentation and prior approval from SARS during the course of the calendar year. Currently at R10m.

Orbit

A full cycle from the point of you sending funds from your account to the point that your funds return into the same account with profit.

API Credentials

The unique key and secret that allows Lumina to interface with other platforms and perform trades and withdrawal requests on your behalf. Should be viewed as a username and password which should be kept secure and not be shared with ANYONE other than Lumina.

Treasury Outsourcer

An authorised Financial Services Provider (regulated by FSCA) which can purchase FX on your behalf and send to your required international addresses using SWIFT.

This company is only responsible for:

• Opening a new bank account for you (with preferential rates)
• Performing Foreign Exchange conversions
• Sending to your nominated account via SWIFT
• Ensuring compliance with Excon

SWIFT

A global provider for cross-border payments. Please refer to their web page.

Financial Service Provider

A regulated and licenced provider offering financial advice and/or intermediary services (such as brokerages, insurance companies etc).

Excon

An abbreviation for Exchange Control. A combined effort of SARS and SARB to ensure that individuals remain in compliance with their SDA and FIA limits. Each Orbit needs to be approved by Excon before it can leave the country.

Two-Factor-Authentication

A further form of authentication to secure your account. Please see here for more details.