South Africa | Crypto

The integration enables crypto payments at more than 650,000 merchants, with transactions settled for businesses in South African rand. Crypto exchange Bybit has expanded its Bybit Pay service to South Africa through an integration with local payments provider MoneyBadger, allowing users to pay with cryptocurrency at merchants nationwide using QR codes while businesses receive settlement in local currency. According to Bybit's Tuesday announcement, the rollout connects Bybit Pay to existing payment networks, giving users access to more than 650,000 merchants via Scan to Pay, 31,000 through Zapper and over 1,500 Pick n Pay stores, with additional support for online payments through Peach and Ozow. Users can pay with Bitcoin (BTC), stablecoins and more than 20 other digital assets, with transactions processed in seconds while MoneyBadger converts funds to South African rand at the point of sale to limit exposure to price volatility, allowing merchants to accept crypto without holding it. Read more

South Africa’s draft capital flow rules would bring crypto under exchange controls, with declaration duties, transaction limits and tougher penalties. South Africa’s National Treasury has published draft rules that would bring cryptocurrency transactions under the country’s capital flow regime, requiring some holders to declare digital asset holdings and routing certain transactions through authorized providers or Treasury-approved channels. Published on April 17, the draft Capital Flow Management Regulations bill proposes that crypto holders above a yet-unspecified threshold would be required to declare investments to the treasury within 30 days. In some cases, crypto acquired through an authorized provider for a stated purpose would have to be offered for sale if it was no longer needed for that purpose. The draft is open for public comment until May 18 and would replace South Africa’s Exchange Control Regulations of 1961, marking the most significant overhaul of the country’s exchange control framework in ...

[PRESS RELEASE – Zurich/Johannesburg, Switzerland/South Africa, March 12th, 2026] Wyden, the global leader in institutional digital asset trading technology, today announced the integration of VALR, the largest crypto exchange in Africa by trade volume, into its market-wide network of liquidity connectors. The partnership marks a significant milestone in Wyden’s strategic growth in South Africa. Through […]

Investigators say Raees and Ameer Cajee are back in South Africa years after Africrypt’s collapse, while investors still struggle to serve legal papers. South Africa’s so-called “Bitcoin Brothers,” Raees and Ameer Cajee, have quietly returned to the country years after the collapse of their crypto investment platform Africrypt, according to a new TV investigation. A segment aired Sunday by investigative program “Carte Blanche” said the pair is residing inside the gated Zimbali Estate in KwaZulu-Natal, MyBroadband reported on Monday. According to the report, journalists attempted to approach the property but were blocked by private security. The team also reportedly traced the brothers to a holiday location in Umhlanga and a recent address in Johannesburg, but failed to make direct contact. Read more

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