Crypto-Assets-Declared-Financial-Product-In-South-Africa

Crypto Assets Market Has Become One Of The Biggest Markets In World. More And More People Are Being Engaged In The Crypto Investment Process.

By Happy Arnold

The Crypto Market Has Become One Of The Biggest Markets In The World. More And More People Are Being Engaged In The Crypto Investment Process. With the time passing and the cryptos proving their positions in the market, it is hard to resist the desire to invest in crypto assets. Bitcoin is the main actor among all of the cryptos and is extremely popular among investors.

Even though the crypto market is highly popular all over the world, the regulations are still quite soft for most of the crypto users. This is due to several reasons. First of all, the cryptos are based on blockchain technology, which is one of the safest and secure platforms. The second factor is that the crypto market is fully decentralized, meaning that there is no additional third-party authority engaged in the regulation of the currency. This also means that there is no one who can control or predict the changes specifically.

With their being said, you should be aware of the fact that the crypto market is not fully regulated, but countries are trying to regulate it as far as it is safe and reliable for their customers. Thus, different countries and authorities have different approaches to the crypto market. While some countries prefer to leave it untouched, and relatively less regulated, others want to regulate it, and be in control, in order to hold more information regarding the investors and everyone present in the market.

One of the countries, which should be taken as an example when it comes to the regulation of the market in South Africa. The country has overall become one of the biggest financial markets and deserved a lot of attention from investors throughout the past time. The reason for that is the resource the country possesses, and the interest from the local authority representatives.

  •     The FSCA introduces new regulations

The interest of both from investors and local traders is very high, which is one more reason why the South African crypto market has become the center of attention for many. The South African Financial Conduct Authority, also known as the FSCA is one of the main regulatory authorities to decide on the crypto market regulations. Some additional amendments have been made by the FSCA recently.

The regulatory authority has recently published the draft declaration of the crypto assets as a financial product under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, which is also known as FAIS. The Act applies to every financial firm and agency that is willing to trade and invest in the crypto assets on the South African market.

The cryptos are not only popular in the financial and banking sector, but have been extremely popular in other huge industries, such as gambling. In order to popularize the usage of cryptos in the gambling sector, and to provide safety and security for the crypto users, the regulations of the market exist and even have become a bit stricter. South Africa is not the first country to introduce similar Acts.

  •     Crypto casinos for South African players

With the SA crypto market, the regulations in crypto gambling have proven to be a great source of reliability and security. There are quite a few crypto casinos for South African players, which provide the safe and secure gameplay with the crypto assets. Moreover, the casino provides detailed information about the crypto usage for the gambling purposes. Within the new Act, SA online crypto casino might be in need of receiving the local citizens. There is no specific guideline regarding the crypto casino operation yet, though it is very likely that the crypto casinos will be required to provide official authorized documents allowing them to offer crypto payment options to the customers.

Any cryptocurrency exchange, advisor, or brokerage company willing to offer crypto services to the customers, should from now on be the registered financial services provider, FSP. Those companies are subject to regulation under the FAIS, which is administered by the FSCA, as the highest authority.

  •     Why the new regulations are imposed

The urgent need for the additional regulations evoked, as the crypto assets are observed to be growing incredibly fast by retail investors to purchase the crypto asset. The region is expected to become even more popular within the nearest future, as South Africa itself has experienced an exponential increase in the provision and use of the crypto assets.

The clear manner in which cryptos can be regulated has been under consideration by the National Treasury, NT, and relevant authorities for a number of years. To be more specific from the very point when the cryptos became a thing in the region overall. The draft declaration, which has been published earlier this year is the validation of the crypto regulation process. The initial works regarding the published act, began back in 2020, when the Crypto Assets Regulatory Working Group, also known as the CAR WG published a position paper that made a variety of recommendations addressing the regulation of the crypto assets existing in the market.

The draft declaration is intended to give partial effect to some of the recommendations contained in the position paper by declaring crypto assets as a financial product under the FAIS Act. The representative of the FAIS has also commented on the published document, stating that the declaration would have the effect that any person furnishing advice or rendering intermediary services in relation to crypto-assets must be authorized under the FAIS as a financial services provider, and must comply with the requirements of the FAIS Act. The requirements are well defined in the published document.

The advantage of the new draft can be considered the information, which will enable the new investors to comply with the risks existing in the crypto market overall, including the investment process as well as the trading. It should also ensure that a more robust advice process is adopted, including proper risk assessments, when intermediaries decide to advise customers to purchase crypto assets.

  •     Bottom line

Licensing process of the agencies and the advisories is one of the main when it comes to improving the quality of data for policymakers and regulators about the crypto asset environment. The FSCA said the draft declaration in no way impacts the status of crypto assets in the context of other laws. Moreover, it also does not attempt to regulate, legitimize, or give credence to crypto assets.

This news was originally published at Arican Exponent.