South Africa’s financial regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), has begun licensing cryptocurrency businesses. This move aims to regulate the growing crypto industry and protect consumers from financial risks. South Africa has broken the record as it’s the first African country to license crypto exchanges.
The FSCA received 355 license applications; about 262 licensing applications from crypto exchanges are in process, and it has already approved 59 as of March 12, 2024, according to Reuter’s report. This indicates a surge in interest from crypto businesses seeking to operate legally in the country.
According to Bloomberg, the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) will govern the cryptocurrency firms who submitted their applications by November 30, 2023.
Unathi Kamlana, the FSCA commissioner, shared this report with Bloomberg, stating:
“As we license and supervise, we will discover that perhaps there are gaps that cannot be closed by the existing regulatory framework, the FAIS Act. And we might need to build on that as we discover what those are.”
The FSCA’s regulation also grants the central bank’s Financial Surveillance Department the authority to monitor crypto transactions and prevent potential financial crimes like money laundering.
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