The continent’s most developed economy may now regulate cryptocurrency after South Africa’s financial authority on Thursday classified them as financial products.
The declaration follows debates about how to govern digital currencies among financial institutions and regulators worldwide.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has decided that financial firms that deal in cryptocurrencies must apply for licenses between June 1 and November 20 of the following year.
“You cannot have a situation where you have entities operating outside the regulatory framework, it is not ideal, and certainly not in the public interest,” FSCA Commissioner Unathi Kamlana told a news briefing.
The crypto asset will be tradable, transferable, or kept electronically “for the purpose of payment, investment,” even if it will not be issued by the central bank.
Recall, in August, the Central African Republic‘s, C.A.R, High Court declared that it is unconstitutional to purchase “e-residency,” or citizenship and land, using cryptocurrency backed by the government.
The purchase of citizenship, “e-residency,” and land using a crypto token that the government launched last month was found to be unconstitutional on Monday by the Constitutional Court of the Central African Republic.