It is still too too\u00a0risky\u00a0for the South African Reserve Bank to start issuing virtual currencies or crypto-currencies at the moment.<\/p>\n
This is according to\u00a0Francois Groepe, deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank, speaking in a keynote address during the Strate GIBS Fintech Innovation Conference 2017 as reported by\u00a0ITWeb<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Concerns currently facing the central bank include the need to ensure that the\u00a0payment methods are not abused; that they do not help fund illegal activities; and the fact that many regulators still\u00a0 lack a clear understanding of how virtual currencies work, said Groepe.<\/p>\n “Virtual currencies have the potential of becoming widely adopted. However, for the central bank to issue virtual currencies or crypto-currencies in an open system will be too risky for us. This is something that we really need to think about,” said Groepe.<\/p>\n “These are: developing analysis on activities that involved in the financial services; continuous collaboration between local and global regulatory authorities; and investigating and deciding on the most appropriate structures to keep abreast of fintech developments.”<\/p>\n Following earlier reports, Groepe said that the that the\u00a0Reserve Bank had recently created a three-member team to look into how virtual currencies work.<\/p>\n These currencies would be tested by the central bank in a “sandbox” environment to help fully understand how they would work in an open market.<\/p>\n It would also allow\u00a0businesses that provide virtual currency exchange services to experiment and test new products, said Groepe.<\/p>\n
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