South African Reserve Bank Appeals Court Ruling on Cryptocurrency Regulation

According to PANews, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has appealed a High Court decision regarding the applicability of the 1961 Exchange Control Regulations to cryptocurrency oversight. The appeal, filed on June 2, follows a court ruling in a case involving a Standard Bank client, which determined that Bitcoin does not qualify as 'currency or foreign exchange' and that apartheid-era laws are not applicable to cryptocurrencies, which have only existed for 15 years. The SARB argues that the client's transfer of 4,400 bitcoins to a Seychelles-based exchange constitutes capital flight, and that Section 22C of the regulations grants the bank the authority to intercept such transactions. A local fintech company CEO highlighted that the case reveals loopholes in current policies that allow for the circumvention of exchange controls through cryptocurrencies.