South Africa’s Treasury backed down yesterday: after receiving “tens of thousands of” comments, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana admitted in the Medium-Term Budget Statement that crypto regulation needs to “take a different approach.”
The April draft was brutal: for the first time, Bitcoin was brought under the 1961 exchange control framework. Every $BTC purchase would require a written declaration—when it was bought, how it was bought, and which wallet it was stored in. Violators could face a fine of up to 1 million rand and five years in prison. The central bank’s figures showed that 63 billion rand worth of Bitcoin had flowed from South African wallets overseas since 2019, “exploiting loopholes in exchange controls.”
Now the policy is shifting: no prior approval; instead, the focus will be on whether “transactions are legal and taxes have been paid in full.” Officials also say they will align with recommendations from the G20’s Financial Stability Board.
The debate is on: A) The regulatory climbdown is genuinely bullish for crypto in South Africa. B) Same old policy in a new guise—they’ll just take action later.
$ETH $SOL #南非 #Regulation
The April draft was brutal: for the first time, Bitcoin was brought under the 1961 exchange control framework. Every $BTC purchase would require a written declaration—when it was bought, how it was bought, and which wallet it was stored in. Violators could face a fine of up to 1 million rand and five years in prison. The central bank’s figures showed that 63 billion rand worth of Bitcoin had flowed from South African wallets overseas since 2019, “exploiting loopholes in exchange controls.”
Now the policy is shifting: no prior approval; instead, the focus will be on whether “transactions are legal and taxes have been paid in full.” Officials also say they will align with recommendations from the G20’s Financial Stability Board.
The debate is on: A) The regulatory climbdown is genuinely bullish for crypto in South Africa. B) Same old policy in a new guise—they’ll just take action later.
$ETH $SOL #南非 #Regulation