South Africa regulator to require licenses from local crypto exchanges

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa will require local exchanges to obtain licences by the end of the year. This is reported by Bloomberg.

The filing process began several weeks ago and will run until November 30. FSCA has already received around 20 applications from local cryptocurrency companies.

“The use of cryptocurrency products can pose serious harm to participants in the financial market. Therefore there is merit in introducing a regulatory framework,” said FSCA Commissioner Unathi Kamlana.

If exchanges continue to operate without the required documents after the deadline, they could face fines or a suspension of operations.

South Africa will become the first country on the continent to require digital-asset exchanges to obtain licences. According to Kamlana, time will tell how effective the measures are.

Earlier ForkLog reported that the South Africa-based cryptocurrency exchange VALR closed a $50 million financing round.

In August last year in South Africa began operating the SMS service Machankura. It enables Bitcoin transfers without internet access.