South African Crypto Coalition Forms to Fight Proposed Exchange Control Rules
A coalition of South African crypto players has formed to fight against proposed exchange control rules that they believe will harm the industry.
The 'Catastrophe' coalition, which includes VALR, Luno, AltCoinTrader, and EasyEquities, argues that the regulations could lead to capital flight, slow economic participation, and isolate South Africa from the global digital economy.
Catastrophe stands for Crypto Asset Taskforce for Advancing Sound, Technology-Neutral Regulation for Opportunity, Prosperity, and a Healthy Economy. The coalition claims that individuals supporting the cause include lawyers, economists, and entrepreneurs.
The proposed framework requires crypto asset service providers to obtain approval from the Reserve Bank's Financial Surveillance Department for cross-border transactions.
Catastrophe warns that restrictive draft rules will prevent businesses from using blockchain-based payments for legitimate cross-border transactions, effectively blocking stablecoins as a means of payment. Emile van der Linde, Head of Operations at EasyCrypto, emphasized that the development of stablecoins has made money transfers faster and easier.
He noted that crypto-asset service providers are already licensed and report to various bodies like the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC). Van der Linde also cited technology in the blockchain world that monitors transactions, such as Chainalysis, which tracks on-chain transactions to check where funds are coming from and where they're moving to.