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National Treasury and the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) on Monday released a draft Crypto Assets Manual for public comment, setting out a framework for authorising, monitoring and reporting cross-border crypto asset activity.<\/p>\n
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The manual is intended to complement the draft Capital Flow Management Regulations published in April and forms part of efforts to strengthen oversight of crypto-related international financial flows.<\/p>\n
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Under the proposals, crypto transactions would be classified as cross-border when crypto assets are transferred between a South African-authorised Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) and an offshore CASP, or from a domestic CASP to a non-custodial wallet. These transactions would have to be reported to SARB\u2019s Financial Surveillance Department (FinSurv).<\/p>\n
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The draft framework initially allows resident individuals to externalise crypto assets through authorised providers within existing foreign exchange limits. This includes the single discretionary allowance of about $122 000 a year and the foreign capital allowance of about $608 000 a year, with tax clearance required for the latter.<\/p>\n
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Resident companies would not be permitted to undertake crypto asset transactions classified as imports or exports of capital. Transactions between authorised domestic CASPs would be treated as domestic and would not be reportable.<\/p>\n
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The manual introduces three categories of authorised CASPs. Category One providers would facilitate remittances using crypto assets as a settlement mechanism. Category Two providers would enable specific cross-border crypto transfers through custodial wallets. Category Three providers would combine both functions.<\/p>\n
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Firms seeking authorisation would need approval from FinSurv, a Financial Sector Conduct Authority licence, Financial Intelligence Centre registration and minimum unimpaired capital of about $304 000 or 15% of average gross income, whichever is higher.<\/p>\n
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Category One remittance activity would be capped at about $304 per transaction per day and about $1 519 per applicant per month. Clients would not own or take possession of the crypto assets, with settlement between the client and CASP taking place in rand.<\/p>\n
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Authorised CASPs would be required to onboard clients under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, keep transaction records for at least five years, monitor custodial wallets, report deviations within seven days and submit cross-border transaction data through the FinSurv Reporting System.<\/p>\n
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The manual stresses that crypto assets are not legal tender in SA, are not guaranteed by SARB and remain subject to risks linked to price volatility and limited legal protection.<\/p>\n
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Treasury and SARB said the proposals remain subject to revision after public consultation and further stakeholder engagement.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41459,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-41455","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa (SA) has published draft rules to monitor cross-border crypto transactions and limit externalisation mainly to individuals.","published_date":"","news_description":"South Africa (SA) has published draft rules to monitor cross-border crypto transactions and limit externalisation mainly to individuals.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41460,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41455\/revisions\/41460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}