The South African Reserve Bank has raised concerns about the increasing use of digital assets and stablecoins, as outlined in its Financial Stability Review published on November 25.
The review explained that the structure of digital currencies allows users to move funds across borders with ease, often avoiding controls designed to oversee cross-border financial flows.
The Financial Stability Review stated, “Due to their exclusively digital and borderless nature, crypto assets can be used to circumvent the provisions of the Exchange Control Regulations”.
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As part of its analysis, the Reserve Bank worked with exchanges such as Luno
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In response, the Reserve Bank is developing new systems with the National Treasury for monitoring crypto and stablecoin movements. The proposed updates also include revisions to the 1961 exchange control framework to address digital assets.
The document also pointed to ongoing challenges for South Africa’s finance industry, including old infrastructure, energy shortages, reliance on a handful of major banks, and environmental issues, even as the system remains mostly stable.
Furthermore, the report showed that the three primary digital asset platforms in South Africa had about 7.8 million client accounts as of July. Meanwhile, the overall value of assets held in custody on these exchanges totaled nearly $1.5 billion by the end of 2024.
South Korea’s effort to set up official rules for won-based stablecoins was recently delayed. What happened? Read the full story.
