4 entries.
South Africa was removed from the FATF list of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring after a multi-year action plan coordinated across Treasury, SARB and the FSCA. For crypto this is the continent's most consequential AML development of the half-year. Grey-list status was a standing objection institutional allocators raised against SA-regulated platforms, and its removal converts the country's CASP licensing regime from a compliance burden into a sales asset. Watch the knock-ons: Kenya's grey-list review was due at the June 2026 plenary, and Nigeria's action plan is in progress. Delisting is now the template other African jurisdictions will be measured against.
Gazetted on 17 April 2026 (Government Gazette No. 7375), the Draft Capital Flow Management Regulations replace the Exchange Control Regulations of 1961 in their entirety and bring crypto assets into South Africa's capital flow framework for the first time: crypto is expressly defined as capital, cross-border transfers above prescribed thresholds must run through an authorised crypto asset service provider, and an administrative penalties regime attaches. The draft also legislatively reverses the May 2025 Standard Bank ruling that crypto fell outside the 1961 regulations. It is the structural counterpart to FSCA licensing, CARF data-sharing (effective 1 March 2026) and FIC's Travel Rule guidance. Re-verified 6 July 2026: the comment deadline, originally 18 May, was extended to 30 June at stakeholders' request and has now closed. Final form pending.
The FSCA's supervisory update on Crypto Asset Service Providers reports 30 on-site inspections between April 2025 and March 2026, with regulatory expectations clarified under the FAIS Act framework. There is no new licensing regime yet; FAIS remains the baseline while Directive 9 and Travel Rule work continues. The inspection count is the story: SA's conduct regulator is actively supervising licensed CASPs, not just licensing them. For licensed firms, an inspection-readiness file is now a practical necessity rather than a nice-to-have.
The National Treasury signalled amendments to the Exchange Control Regulations to govern transfers of crypto assets to non-residents. This is the missing piece that puts crypto-to-fiat conversions and cross-border transfers under the same SARB approval and declaration machinery as ordinary currency transfers. The direction of travel is clear even before the text: VASPs holding customer funds, stablecoin issuers with cross-border redemption flows, and institutions moving ZAR into digital assets for offshore transfer should expect exchange-control reporting to become part of their compliance stack. The move aligns with FIC's Travel Rule guidance (PCC 123) and the wider capital flow management overhaul. Re-verified 6 July 2026: the signalled instrument arrived on 17 April as the Draft Capital Flow Management Regulations, 2026 (cpm-2026-0009).
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