Crypto exchanges have around five months to secure a South African crypto license.
South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has revealed its plans to make licenses compulsory for all cryptocurrency exchanges operating within the country.
According to the Bloomberg report shared on July 4th, the crypto exchanges have until the end of the year to receive FSCA's license.
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The FSCA's Commissioner, Unathi Kamlana, revealed that the authority has already received roughly 20 license applications since it opened up for submissions. However, Kamlana anticipates a surge in applications before November 30th.
Unathi Kamlana clearly outlined the ramifications for those entities that fail to comply with the licensing requirement post-deadline. He stated that the FSCA won't hesitate to initiate "enforcement action," including levying fines or mandating the closure of the non-compliant exchanges.
When discussing the new measures, FSCA Commissioner acknowledged the importance of regulating cryptocurrency-related products.
This groundbreaking move makes South Africa the first African nation to mandate licensing for digital asset exchanges. It joins a global trend of tightening regulations around cryptocurrency.
Notably, the new regulation will impact several established crypto exchanges in South Africa, such as Luno, backed by Digital Currency Group, and global crypto exchange giants like Binance.
This decisive step from South Africa resonates with a broader global shift towards imposing stringent regulation in the crypto sector. This was exemplified recently when the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) ordered crypto service providers to place customer assets into a statutory trust by year's end for secure storage. As such, South Africa's move further solidifies the growing global commitment toward regulatory clarity in the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency industry.
In other South Africa-related news, the South African authorities have recently given the green light to the Nigerian crypto exchange Roqqu to provide crypto-related services in the country.
