South Africa’s intergovernmental Fintech Working Group aims to publish a draft policy paper on crypto-assets for public comment in the first quarter of 2020.<\/p>\n
In response to questions from BusinessTech, Reserve Bank spokesperson Ziyanda Mtshali said that the draft policy will build on a consultation paper which was released for public comment in January 2019.<\/p>\n
“The stances proposed in the revised policy paper are in line with the recently released recommendations on crypto assets by the Financial Action Task Force,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Within the crypto-asset environment certain areas of potential risk have been identified, such as money laundering, illicit financial flows and lack of consumer protection.<\/p>\n
“The setting of a legal and regulatory framework assists in providing safeguards in mitigating these potential areas of risk.”<\/p>\n
No plans to ban?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the introduction of tougher regulations, the January consultation paper states<\/a> <\/strong>that South Africa does not currently intend to ban the buying, selling or holding of crypto assets, or to ban crypto assets for payments.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, because crypto assets are not recognised as a currency, customers may be exposed to harm in an unregulated environment,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision not to ban the use of crypto assets is, however, based on the existing landscape and current levels of adoption, acceptance and use.<\/p>\n “South African authorities, therefore, reserve the right to amend their policy stance should crypto-assets pose a material risk to their respective regulatory mandates.\u201d<\/p>\n
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