Crypto regulations for South Africa are coming in 2022

South Africa’s financial regulatory watchdog plans to introduce crypto regulations in 2022, according to Bloomberg.

The country’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FCSA) says it wants to establish a set of rules that will provide adequate investor protection, especially amid growing cryptocurrency-related fraud in South Africa.

These crypto-related scams have led to the loss of billions of dollars from victims and have triggered investigations from law enforcement across the globe. In one instance, two brothers who ran the now-defunct Africrypt investment scheme allegedly stole $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin from investors.

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According to Unathi Kamlana — South Africa’s top financial regulator — the crypto regulations will include provisions to govern cryptocurrency trading as well as matters relating to the interaction between digital currency and the country’s financial markets.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Kamlana stated that the FCSA was keen to maintain robust crypto oversight as a means of protecting investors from potentially risky schemes.

The FCSA commissioner did state that the agency did not see crypto posing significant risks to South Africa’s financial stability. Kamlana also stated that the FCSA views crypto as assets and not currencies.

In December 2019, South Africa’s central bank announced plans to introduce designed to prevent the use of crypto in evading currency control measures.

About Author

Osato is a news reporter at The Block as part of the crypto ecosystems team that focuses on DAO governance, staking, blockchain layers, and DeFi. He was previously a news reporter at Cointelegraph. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, he enjoys crosswords, poker, and attempting to beat his Scrabble high score. Follow him on Twitter at @OsatoNomayo.