Arret Jenkinson, a journalist from Durban, South Africa, shares his views on the state of the cryptocurrency market in South Africa and its prospects. He concludes that local regulators are moving in the right direction and can serve as an example for foreign colleagues.
The cryptocurrency market is famous not only in Europe, Asia, and America but also in other parts of the world. In Africa, namely, in South Africa, at the moment there is a real crypto-boom, although all over the world, electronic currencies are losing a little bit. The peculiarity of the economy of the Republic of bitcoin trading South Africa consists of a substantial depreciation of the national currency, associated with the ongoing inflationary processes. All attempts to contain inflation throughout the current year have not yielded any particular results, so the local currency was at the level of a six-month low, so citizens began to be so active and with great interest in cryptocurrencies, namely, bitcoin wallet. More recently, a multicurrency crypto ATM was formed in the country.
Bitcoin price has become so much in demand for purchase that residents are actively working on Luno and Paxful crypto exchanges to implement a full range of bitcoin trading operations with this type of buy bitcoin and other banknotes represented.
On the Luno platform, you can trade pairs with BTC/rand and ETH/rand. If someone intends to expand their crypto portfolio, they can resort to the services of the Coindirect trading platform, which offers Litecoin, Bitcoin wallet Cash and Ripple, as well as coins of local ICOs, which are conducted quite regularly, for bitcoin trading. Not so long ago, the South African asset management company Sygnia decided to launch its SygniaCoin exchange.
Bitcoin trading in South Africa, like all exchanges working there, has been trying to regulate the National Bank since May of this year, as the local legislation vested it with authority to manage foreign exchange transactions in the state. The management of the bank announced that buy Bitcoin is not legal, like other cryptocurrencies. Since April of this year, the legislation of the country has taken measures to legitimize the income received from cryptocurrencies. There is an ownership structure of tax collections from these monetary units. Not so long ago, they began to talk about the Central Bank, considering the possibilities for forming a unified system of regulation rules for the cryptocurrency market. The crypto environment in the country today is far from some severe restrictions, and the market is growing and complicated by the rapid pace.
In South Africa, there has been a sharp surge in interest in cryptocurrency, in particular, bitcoin wallet, and it can be said with confidence that the digital currency has consolidated its position in the country.
As early as November 15, the media reported that in Zimbabwe the price for 1 Bitcoin was $ 13.500. However, along with the growth of the average weighted Bitcoin exchange rate to $ 19,000, the Bitcoin mining exchange rate in South Africa increased proportionally to $ 32,000.
Bitcoin mining has always traded higher in countries such as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, but previously, the price on average did not exceed more than 10%. One of the reasons people will pay more for cryptocurrencies in Africa is the lack of liquidity. When there are not enough sellers, it is easy to set higher prices in the market and be sure that orders will be executed. In countries such as Nigeria and Angola, this has led to the fact that sometimes buyers bought Bitcoin exchange with a 100% margin.
Demand is ahead of supply, as Bitcoin exchanges are a much more profitable asset than local currencies prone to hyperinflation. However, there is another reason why Bitcoin is so expensive in Africa.
Africa is one of the worst places in the world for Bitcoin mining. Hot, dusty, lack of normal infrastructure. Power outages are a daily occurrence in many parts of the continent, which makes Africa completely unsuitable for mining.
On other continents, cryptocurrency mining ensures a stable supply of coins entering the exchanges, as miners tend to pay their bills and make a profit. Due to their absence in Africa, almost no one wants to sell Bitcoin. Internet access on the continent also leaves much to be desired, while most South Africans use mobile Internet.
Bitcoin is hard to get or buy and sell in Africa, but Africans have an alternative way to obtain cryptocurrency to earn it. This is a slow accumulation strategy, but it is precisely the most profitable in the continent. Among Africans, Steemit, Yours.org, and many other sites that reward participants with cryptocurrency are quite popular. The process requires hard work and perseverance, but Africans are ready for anything for the sake of Bitcoin exchanges. Given financial stability and the ability to break out of poverty thanks to cryptocurrency, it is not surprising that Africa fell in love with Bitcoin exchange.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said accept Bitcoin and altcoins may be deemed illegal, although it is too early to worry about this. As for current trends, yesterday, the SARB posted rules that should bring legal clarity to the crypto industry. This is an action guide that is not binding. However, having studied the 32-page document, one can understand the requirements in the direction in which South African regulators are moving. Within a month, the report will be in public discussion.
The manual described above describes the main risks associated with the use of crypto. First of all, to protect investors’ funds, SARB recommends introducing mandatory registration for all crypto companies in the FIC. Regulators are confident that the regulatory framework should provide protection for crypto investors, minimize the risk of money laundering, etc. In South Africa, they do not intend to ban digital assets yet. However, this possibility is not excluded in the future. Now South African crypto investors do not feel protected, as there is a lack of legal clarity. The introduction of a regulatory framework will add confidence. It also became known that the SARS tax service turned to lead companies for help to find a solution for tracking bitcoin transactions. The financial regulator believes that most of the income “passes by.”
Looking at the cryptocurrency boom in Africa, you will involuntarily think about it, and the letter from 2025 of the so-called time traveler, which describes the African tragedy, no longer seems so fantastic.
Due to the lack of banking services in most of Africa, many people on the continent switched to cryptocurrency settlements. Throughout the past year, bitcoin and other digital currencies have been in significant demand among Africans. For this reason, the price of cryptocurrencies in Africa exceeds the global average by up to 40%.
Most African people do not have a bank account, but this does not prevent them from entirely using financial services. For this, mobile applications are used, based on operations with cryptocurrencies.
In many areas where there are no banking institutions, cryptocurrencies have successfully replaced traditional banking operations, with many advantages low fees, almost instant transactions, the use of mobile applications, etc.
Along with this, in all African states, there is no regulation of digital currencies.
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