SA’s plan to regulate cryptocurrency

One of the most important outcomes of the proposals to build a regulatory framework to oversee investments in and transactions using cryptocurrencies is that it will remove anonymous and secretive transactions.

Secondly, it will also remove the anonymity of entities that provide any service, platform and investment opportunities or issue and offer cryptocurrencies.

It seems that South African authorities took a simple view of the difficulties in regulating this new, ever-changing and evolving asset:

If the proponents of cryptocurrencies maintain that it is the money of the future, let’s treat it like money, and treat anybody who deals with its exchange and investment as financial service providers.

The Interdepartmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) – comprising the SA Reserve Bank, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), National Credit Regulator, National Treasury, the SA Revenue Service and Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) – has just released a draft of its…