The Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank said the government is hard at work on crypto bills that will support the development of the industry.
Kuben Naidoo has revealed that regulations regarding cryptocurrencies are planned to be published within the next 18 months. They will define cryptocurrencies not as a means of payment, but as a financial product that can be used in the main sectors of the economy. Therefore, digital assets will be regulated by the Financial Intelligence Agency of South Africa (FIA). With the help of this department, the government will try to control the use of digital assets in illegal transactions in order to prevent money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing.
The Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) added that the new regulation provides rules for the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges, with a focus on listing cryptocurrencies on trading floors. Regulations are drawn up on the basis of existing rules of the banking industry, taking into account the requirements of the KYC (“Know Your Customer”) procedure.
“We will not regulate crypto assets as a currency, because people will not be able to pay with them for purchases in stores. It is much better to regulate cryptocurrencies as financial assets, and to do this in a way that balances the hype of users and provides the necessary protection for investors, ”Naidu said.
The official noted that some cryptocurrencies represent real technological achievements that can make the financial industry better. Despite the instability of the cryptocurrency market, SARB does not worry about which cryptoassets will survive and “turn out to be winners”. Equal development conditions will be provided for all assets, and users themselves should be aware of the associated risks when investing in crypto assets, Naidoo concluded.
At the end of 2021, lawyers and lawmakers in South Africa called on the government to speed up the development of regulation of cryptocurrencies in the country due to the increasing cases of crypto-currency fraud. So, at the beginning of the year, the local police received a lot of statements from the victims of the AfriCrypt cryptocurrency pyramid.
Source: Bits
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