South Africa | Crypto

The bank cited increasing trading volume and the number of users among large exchanges, as well as gaps in South Africa’s regulatory framework on crypto. The South African Reserve Bank issued its second financial stability report for 2025, identifying digital assets and stablecoins as a new risk as the number of users in the country continues to grow. In a report released on Tuesday, South Africa’s central bank identified “crypto assets and stablecoins” as a new risk for technology-enabled financial innovation. The bank reported that the number of combined users on the country’s three largest crypto exchanges reached 7.8 million as of July, with about $1.5 billion held in custody at the end of 2024. “Due to their exclusively digital – and therefore borderless – nature, crypto assets can be used to circumvent the provisions of the Exchange Control Regulations,” said the report, referring to regulations to control the inflows and outflows of funds to South Africa. Read more

Ripple has partnered with South Africa’s Absa Bank to provide digital asset custody services, expanding its institutional custody network across Africa. Institutional blockchain service provider and XRP developer Ripple announced a partnership with South African bank Absa on Wednesday to provide digital asset custody to the institution’s customers. According to the announcement, Absa is “Ripple’s first major custody partner in Africa.” The bank will offer its customers digital asset custody services relying on Ripple’s infrastructure for tokenized assets and cryptocurrencies. The bank is a major player on the African financial stage, managing 2.07 trillion South African rands ($119.5 billion) of assets as of the end of 2024. Absa also saw $6.34 billion of revenue last year. Read more

There are few places on Earth as Bitcoin-friendly as the scenic Garden Route in South Africa, where Bitcoin circular economies have blossomed. South Africa’s Garden Route, famed for its lush forests, expansive beaches and charming towns, has become a testbed for Bitcoin adoption. From Mossel Bay to Witsand and Plettenberg Bay to Knysna, Bitcoin has become popular among shop owners and travelers alike for a multitude of reasons. “We’re seeing the early signs of a parallel, permissionless economy emerging across an entire region,” James Caw, founder of SimplB — a local crypto asset provider — told Cointelegraph, “where small businesses benefit from faster, lower-cost digital payments and where people have more options to earn, send and receive sound money securely.” Read more