South African Reserve Bank Appeals Court Ruling on Cryptocurrency Regulation
AI Summary
According to PANews, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has appealed the High Court's decision regarding the application of the Exchange Control Regulations of 1961 to cryptocurrency oversight. The appeal, filed on June 2, follows the 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 do not apply to cryptocurrency, which has only existed for 15 years.
SARB argues that the transfer of 4,400 bitcoins by the client to an exchange based in Seychelles constitutes capital flight, and that Article 22C of the regulations grants the bank the authority to intercept such transactions. A CEO of a local fintech company pointed out that this case reveals a gap in the current policy that allows for the circumvention of exchange controls through cryptocurrency.
