Cryptocurrency and blockchain
MoneyBadger reports R1.28m in September ZARU checkouts, while Bitcoin remains its biggest payment asset. The data covers one network, not all SA retail.
Polymarket's eight SA mayoral markets have traded about $381,000 before the 4 November vote, and no local gambling or financial regulator oversees them.
Four Africa Bitcoin directors resigned after a 71.8% shareholder bloc sought their removal. The JSE-listed group must now rebuild its board.
FNB has partnered with VALR to let customers buy five crypto assets from R10 through its existing share-investing products.
Luno has acquired GTXN to bring licensed cross-border payment rails into its group as South Africa rewrites rules for crypto-linked capital flows.
Citi has lifted its 12-month Bitcoin forecast to $113,000. For South Africans, the rand and local exchange costs still shape the real return.
Luno says draft South African capital-flow rules could classify stablecoin payments differently from equivalent bank payments for goods and services.
Comments close today on South Africa’s draft cross-border crypto rules, which would bring CASP transfers under FinSurv reporting.
ZARsc puts rand-denominated value directly on Solana, with local bank reserves and exchange support. The real test is whether the full rand-to-chain-to-rand loop works better than existing rails.
Treasury and the SARB’s draft Crypto Assets Manual would pull offshore crypto transfers into FinSurv reporting. Written comments close 30 September 2026.
FSCA-licensed ZARU, a one-rand stablecoin backed onshore and issued by BlockTower, is live on Circle’s Arc and trading ZARU/USDC through StableFX.
Starlink could reshape broadband beyond South Africa's fibre footprint, but licensing remains the decisive part of the local story.