South Africa Proposes Stricter Controls on Cross-Border Crypto Transfers

South Africa is tightening its grip on cross-border cryptocurrency transfers with a new draft regulatory manual. The plan would require offshore transfers to pass through authorized providers and reach the central bank, expanding state oversight of digital assets.

The National Treasury and South African Reserve Bank released the draft Crypto Asset Manual on Monday. It defines reportable crypto transfers as movements from a domestic authorized provider to an offshore provider or into a privately controlled non-custodial wallet.

However, domestic rand-based cryptocurrency trades would remain outside the proposed framework. Authorized providers would report inflows and outflows to the Financial Surveillance Department, but purchases or sales using local rand through local providers would not qualify as offshore movements.