South African authorities have unveiled Treasury’s plans to promote the adoption of digital payments for marginalized groups.
South Africa is considering stablecoins and blockchain as a way to improve the lives of underprivileged groups, according to a Treasury document released on February 21.
South Africa’s Ministry of Finance has announced upcoming policy changes on stablecoins, detailing its plans to promote digital payments as one such strategy.
South African officials said they would examine the impact of blockchain-based tokenization on the country’s financial markets through a working group expected to release a document by December 2024. “We have the basic financial market infrastructure.”
In October 2022, cryptocurrency assets were recognized as financial products in South Africa. The Financial Services Authority of South Africa (FSCA) has announced changes to the country’s legal framework that will recognize “digital expressions of value” in cryptocurrency products.
In July 2023, South African authorities announced that cryptocurrency exchanges in the country would require a license to operate. The FSCA added that it plans to take “enforcement action”, which could result in businesses being shut down or fined if they continue to operate without a license after the deadline.
Earlier this year, Nigeria banned cryptocurrency exchanges Binance, OctaFX and Coinbase by directing telecommunications companies to block access to their websites.
Binance immediately restricted local users’ access to its P2P platform in response to government requests to protect foreign exchange markets and their currencies.