South African crypto firms seeks clearer regulations from Lawmakers

By: Mark Jessy

March 10, 2021 3:32 AM

Crypto firms operating in South Africa are threatening to move abroad if lawmakers in the country don't create a clear regulatory framework.

Crypto businesses are crying out for lawmakers to deliver a clear crypto regulatory guidelines as they say the country domestic digital assets industry is suffering from "dark" regulations.

Sean Sanders a South African entrepreneur and founder of Revix 'crypto investment platform' who is planning on moving Revix head office abroad to the U.K and Germany. Speaking with Bloomberg, Sanders described the South African government as being slow in providing a clearer regulatory guideline for the crypto industry.

Sanders explains:

“That leads to businesses to start looking internationally. In an unregulated environment crypto market in South Africa, a new customer arrives at our platform with skepticism, and rightfully so,” the CEO added:

South African lawmakers seems to go in the opposite direction of some of the more developed market pioneers and innovators in crypto space. For regulators to apply a hundred-year-old securities regulations to the modern cryptocurrency asset class seems lazy.”

Many local crypto firms have claimed that financial institution in the country are not willing to provide banking services to them. Marius Reitz who is the African general manager of Luno warns that the restrictions of crypto business from accessing banking services would stall the local industry growth.

He said:

“This has made it very difficult for customers to purchase Bitcoins using their local fiat currency during this period."

However, crypto adoption in south Africa could have been thwarted by the high volume of scamming activity in the country as scammers continue to exploit its victims using cryptocurrencies. The increase in the number of crypto related scams has prompted the South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to warn investors about crypto investments.

On February 4, 2021. The FSCA stated:

“Dont be pressured to go with the flow and do not be afraid of being left or FOMO out of the next big thing."

As previously reported by Coinnewsafrica, that alleged South African Ponzi scheme led by CEO Sternberg who has reportedly fled to Brazil. the report states that Mirror Trading International had been placed into provisional liquidation by South Africa's regulators after receiving more than 23,000 Bitcoin from over 150,000 investors.