The Financial Sector Conduct Authority determined that digital assets have “a digital representation of value”.
The South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) announced that it will classify cryptocurrencies as financial products. In this way, the Government defines digital assets as a “digital representation of value” and takes another step towards regulating the market in the country.
According to the press release published by the FSCA, the next regulatory measures will be a mechanism to control foreign exchange operations and a licensing system for companies that trade in the territory.
Although assets such as bitcoin (BTC) or altcoins are not issued by a central bank, the FSCA will guide the legal framework by taking them as instruments of value with the ability to be traded, transferred and stored electronically. In this sense, the Central Bank will seek to prevent its criminal or fraudulent use.
Crypto regulation in South Africa is a project that the government has had on the table for months. Last May, Kuben Naidoo, deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), announced it would take between 9 and 15 months for crypto regulation to take effect in the region.