South Africa’s Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank are set to redraft the country’s crypto asset regulations after an public backlash drew thousands of comments, with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana admitting that “a new approach” is needed for the rules.
By Raj Patel | October 22, 2026
The Hook: Thousands of Comments Forced a Restart
Tabling the 2026 medium-term budget policy statement in Cape Town on Wednesday, October 21, Godongwana confirmed that two draft rulebooks published this year — the draft capital flow management regulations in April and the follow-up draft crypto assets manual for cross-border activities in August — will go back to the drawing board.
“We received thousands of comments, and it is clear that we need to take a different approach to these amendments,” the minister said, according to a report by Business Day. For everyday crypto holders in one of Africa’s largest digital asset markets, that restart matters: the drafts had proposed the biggest overhaul of South Africa’s exchange control framework since 1961.
What the Original Drafts Proposed
The two draft documents, taken together, aimed to shift South Africa from a system of prior approval — where investors must ask permission before moving money — toward a risk-based system focused on surveillance, blocking illicit flows, and regulating crypto assets directly. Think of it as swapping a border checkpoint that inspects every suitcase for one that profiles suspicious travelers instead.
The most controversial element was a proposal that would likely have prohibited businesses from using stablecoins for cross-border payments and repatriating funds. A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value by pegging it to another asset, most commonly the US dollar, though commodities like gold are also used. Payment settlement has become the most popular use of stablecoins worldwide because it can cut the time and cost of moving money across borders.
- April 2026 — draft capital flow management regulations published
- August 2026 — draft crypto assets manual for cross-border activities published
- October 21, 2026 — Godongwana announces redraft at the medium-term budget policy statement
- Thousands of public comments received on the drafts
The Core Conflict: Regulators vs. a Growing Rand Stablecoin Market
The pushback highlights a tension that will feel familiar to crypto investors everywhere. Regulators worry about money leaving the country through channels they cannot easily watch; businesses and users see stablecoins as a cheaper, faster rail for payments. There are currently about 10 rand-pegged stablecoins in the South African market, including Zaru, which launched in 2025 through a partnership between Lesaka, Easy Equities, Sanlam Specialised Asset Management, BlockTower and Luno, as Business Day reported.
Godongwana signaled where the compromise may land: authorities should move away from requiring prior approval and instead assess transactions based on their legitimacy and tax compliance. In plain terms, the government would stop asking “did you get permission?” and start asking “is this money clean and was tax paid on it?”
What Happens Next
“The treatment of crypto assets should also be guided by the recommendations from the Financial Stability Board,” the minister said. The Financial Stability Board, or FSB, is a global body that coordinates financial rules across major economies, and its standards are increasingly becoming the template that national regulators copy. Consultations will now commence, with the Treasury aiming to publish a revised second draft of the regulations for further input.
That means at least one more round of public comment before anything becomes law — a process that could stretch well into 2027 given the scale of the rewrite.
What This Means for Your Wallet
If you hold crypto in South Africa, the immediate practical impact is limited — nothing has changed yet, and the earlier drafts never took effect. But the direction of travel matters. A risk-based regime that taxes and monitors rather than blocks could ultimately make it easier to use digital assets for legitimate cross-border payments, while a ban on business stablecoin transfers, if it survives in the second draft, would push those flows back into banks.
It is also a reminder of how quickly regulatory weather can change for crypto globally. While policymakers in Pretoria debate the rulebook, the broader market remains under pressure — Bitcoin was trading around 81,100 USD, Ethereum near 2,373 USD, and Solana around 104 USD at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko data.
The Verdict
South Africa’s restart is a small victory for the crypto industry’s argument that heavy-handed rules can be improved through consultation — and a warning that regulators will keep rewriting the rulebook until they get the balance they want. Watch the second draft: the fate of stablecoin payments will be the clause that decides whether this becomes one of Africa’s most open crypto regimes or one of its most restrictive.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
thousands of submissions and Godongwana actually admitting they need a new approach. credit where its due, most regulators just ignore the backlash and publish anyway
agreed on listening for once, but watch them quietly sneak the stricter travel rule bits back into the redraft
redrafting is fine and all but SARB has been dragging this since the FSCA licensing rounds. how many more consultation cycles do we need before actual clarity
banning stablecoins for cross border payments in the april draft was never going to survive contact with reality. remittances are the whole point
remittances being the whole point is exactly why the cross-border stablecoin ban had to die. now watch luno and valr race to ship the first compliant lane
thousands of comments and they actually listened for once. godongwana admitting the april draft was a mess is the most honest thing a finance minister has said all year
^ this. the capital flow regs would have made it hell to move your own rand offshore, glad they hit reset
reset or not, SARB still controls the banking rails. until brokers get clear wire lanes for rand the rules are only half the problem
tax treatment better be clearer this time, the last draft basically treated every swap as a disposal. nightmare for record keeping
every swap counted as a disposal is unhinged. imagine owing capital gains on a usdt to usdc switch, the redraft better kill that first
record keeping point is underrated. if the redraft keeps treating every rand to usdt swap as a disposal, half the country becomes accidental tax defaulters overnight
and its not just disposals. the april draft wanted offshore transfers pre-approved, try running a small business through that
the pre-approval bit was worse than people realize. sars approval on offshore transfers takes weeks, no small business survives that cash cycle
accidental tax defaulters is exactly right. most people swapping on valr had no clue those trades were reportable under the april draft
watch them redraft it and somehow make it worse. SARB has never met a rule it did not want to overcomplicate
@Sipho M. redraft could go either way but at least the stablecoin ban bit is dead. that alone buys the industry time
godongwana admitting a new approach is needed after thousands of comments, rare W for public participation. now watch the timeline slip to 2027
godongwana taking thousands of comments seriously is nice but the redraft lands in a budget cycle. clarity pushed to 2027 is not clarity
the remittance win matters most imo. half my family sends money home through friends because bank fees eat 8 percent, a legal stablecoin rail changes that overnight