DeFi protocol frontend in South Africa

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority declared crypto assets a financial product under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002 by General Notice 1350 of 2022, published in Government Gazette No. 47334 of 19 October 2022 and signed by Commissioner Unathi Kamlana, and it licenses crypto asset service providers as financial services providers under that Act.

A crypto asset service provider in South Africa must hold a FAIS financial services provider licence from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in Category I, II, IIA or III, with approved key individuals and, where required, an approved compliance officer; the fit and proper determination in Board Notice 194 of 2017 sets no rand capital band of R150 000 to R1 000 000 but requires liquid assets of 4/52 of annual expenditure for Category I, 8/52 for Category II and 13/52 for Categories IIA and III, with Categories IIA and III also maintaining assets exceeding liabilities by at least R3 million.

The Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002 regulates the rendering of advice and intermediary services in relation to financial products, including crypto assets since the declaration of 19 October 2022, and does not reach the issuance of those products, so issuing a crypto asset is not by itself a licensable activity under FAIS.

Crypto assets are a financial product for the purposes of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002 because the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, and not the Minister of Finance, declared them so in General Notice 1350 of 2022, Government Gazette 47334 of 19 October 2022, acting under paragraph (h) of the definition of financial product in section 1 of that Act, so a crypto asset service provider must hold an FSP licence.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority licenses and supervises crypto asset service providers as financial services providers under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002; as at 31 March 2026 it had received 533 crypto asset service provider licence applications, approved 310, declined 17 and recorded 124 voluntary withdrawals, and had opened 81 investigations into unlicensed crypto asset service provider activity, of which 51 remained open.

The Financial Intelligence Centre supervises anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing compliance under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001; crypto asset service providers have been accountable institutions under item 22 of Schedule 1 since 19 December 2022, must register with the Centre and must file suspicious transaction reports under section 29, and 256 of them were registered under item 22 as at 10 February 2025.

Crypto asset service providers are accountable institutions under item 22 of Schedule 1 to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001, inserted by the Minister of Finance through the Schedule amendment published in Government Gazette 47596 of 29 November 2022 and effective 19 December 2022, and they must register with the Centre, apply customer due diligence, maintain a Risk Management and Compliance Programme under section 42, report suspicious and unusual transactions under section 29 and file cash threshold reports under section 28.

The crypto asset travel rule came into operation in South Africa on 30 April 2025 under clause 9.1 of FIC Directive 9, issued under section 43A(2) of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 and published as Notice 5543 in Government Gazette 51556 of 15 November 2024.

The Exchange Control Regulations of 1961 made under the Currency and Exchanges Act 9 of 1933 still govern crypto asset flows: the SARB Financial Surveillance Department applies Regulation 10(1)(c), neither the Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers nor the ADLA manual permits cross-border transfers to purchase crypto assets, and repatriation of value into South Africa through crypto assets is not permitted, while the draft Capital Flow Management Regulations, 2026 published as Government Notice 54520 in Government Gazette 7375 of 17 April 2026 are proposed to replace them and to close the gap on cross-border crypto asset transactions.

The South African Revenue Service taxes crypto assets under the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, treating them as assets of an intangible nature rather than as currency, and its media release of 6 April 2018 confirmed that normal income tax rules apply, with income taxed on revenue account under gross income or, where the gain is capital in nature, under the Eighth Schedule as a capital gain.

The Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 governs South African AML/CFT, and crypto asset service providers became accountable institutions at item 22 of Schedule 1 through the Schedule amendment published in Government Gazette 47596 of 29 November 2022 with effect from 19 December 2022, rather than through the General Laws Amendment Act 22 of 2022.

Customer identification and verification.

Standard CDD and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) for high-risk cases.

Risk assessments for money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.

Sanctions screening and transaction monitoring.

South African crypto asset service providers have had to comply with the travel rule since 30 April 2025 under Financial Intelligence Centre Directive 9, issued on 15 November 2024 under section 43A(2) of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 and published as Notice 5543 in Government Gazette No. 51556, which requires originator and beneficiary information to accompany every crypto asset transfer.