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2026-10-26 08:11:58 +02:00
kate
No I do not
Other
2026-10-23 15:03:46 +02:00
Abrie
No I do not
All of the above
Privacy Overreach & Permanent Ledger Tracking (POPIA / Section 14)
2026-10-22 21:24:34 +02:00
Jaime
No I do not
All of the above
Privacy Overreach & Permanent Ledger Tracking (POPIA / Section 14)
While the aims of modernising exchange controls, aligning with FATF standards and combating illicit flows are legitimate, the draft achieves the opposite of sound, technology-neutral regulation.

It creates a “cold storage trap” by treating transfers from self-hosted wallets into local authorised platforms as non-permissible. Individuals may move crypto out under the existing allowances, but are then blocked from returning it to a licensed South African exchange to sell into rand. This penalises ordinary self-custody rather than illicit activity.

It also imposes a blanket prohibition on South African companies using crypto for any cross-border transaction. The same commercial payment that is permitted via traditional banking rails is banned when settled through a regulated blockchain channel. This directly contradicts the principle of technology neutrality previously stated by the SARB Governor and places local businesses at a structural disadvantage.

These measures will push activity into less transparent channels, raise costs for legitimate users, and undermine the competitiveness of South Africa’s fintech sector. The manual should be substantially revised to permit inward transfers from self-custody subject to ordinary customer due diligence, and to give resident entities equivalent cross-border treatment to that available through banks.
2026-10-21 08:36:43 +02:00
Rixie
No I do not
The Inward Self-Custody Trap (Banning transfers from non-custodial wallets)
Inward transfers should be permitted subject to standard Customer Due Diligence (CDD), source-of-funds verification, and blockchain forensic risk scoring under the FIC Act.
2026-10-20 09:57:00 +02:00
Michele
No I do not
All of the above
The Inward Self-Custody Trap (Banning transfers from non-custodial wallets)

What Supporters Say (National Treasury & SARB Stance)

    • Curbing Regulatory Arbitrage:
      Unregulated cross-border crypto movements undermine the foreign exchange framework. Bringing crypto transactions within standard balance-of-payments reporting ensures that fintech entities face the same compliance oversight as commercial banks.
    • Defending the Fiscus & National Currency:
      In an era of borderless digital finance, untracked capital outflows threaten domestic macroeconomic stability and the South African Rand. Comprehensive surveillance enables FinSurv to track the true volume of capital moving across borders.
    • Protecting International Financial Standing:
      Following South Africa’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, closing cross-border anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) loopholes is necessary to maintain global banking relationships.
    • Ensuring Platform Solvency:
      Enforcing a minimum unimpaired capital reserve of R5 million and mandating client asset segregation protects everyday consumers from exchange collapses and fraudulent practices.
    • Structured Industry Pathways:
      The manual replaces legal ambiguity with a defined, tiered licensing model (Category 1, 2, and 3), providing institutional legitimacy for compliant operators.

What Opponents Say (Industry Coalition, Economists & Legal Scholars)

    • Breach of Technology Neutrality:
      SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago stated that “similar payment activities should be subject to similar regulatory expectations, whether they are performed by a bank or a fintech.” The draft manual breaches this principle by permitting businesses to execute international vendor settlements via SWIFT while outright banning the exact same economic transaction if routed through regulated blockchain rails.
    • The “Cold Storage Trap”:
      Classifying inward transfers from non-custodial wallets as non-permissible penalizes the foundational property of public blockchain technology: individual self-custody. It creates a one-way street where citizens can take custody of their digital property, but are legally locked out of the domestic banking system if they ever wish to repatriate it.
    • Economic Isolation of South African Enterprise:
      Banning South African companies and trusts from cross-border crypto rails isolates the domestic tech sector, digital exporters, and Web3 startups from the global digital economy, preventing them from using efficient stablecoin settlement channels.
    • Threat to Domestic Jobs & Foreign Investment:
      The industry-led CATASTROPHE coalition (including VALR, Luno, AltCoinTrader, and EasyEquities) warns that billions of Rands in foreign direct investment into South African fintech have been frozen, putting thousands of skilled jobs and significant corporate and PAYE tax contributions at immediate risk.
    • Perverse Incentive for Unregulated Flight:
      Imposing non-workable restrictions will not stop digital asset usage; it will simply drive liquidity away from compliant domestic exchanges into unregulated offshore peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, blinding both FinSurv and SARS.
    • Administrative Cart Before the Horse:
      Requesting public commentary on operational directives while the parent Capital Flow Management Regulations remain unresolved undermines procedural fairness under PAJA.
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