South Africa Eases Forex Rules, Ends Some Apartheid-Era Restrictions as Crypto Regulation Advances

South Africa is moving to include crypto assets in its exchange control regime, reversing a 2025 court ruling that had exempted digital currencies from the country’s strict foreign exchange regulations.

The shift was signaled in the 2026 Budget Speech delivered on 25 February 2026, when the Minister of Finance announced that draft regulations would soon be published to bring crypto assets within the Currency and Exchanges Act’s capital flow management framework.

This development follows the Pretoria High Court’s ruling in May 2025 in Standard Bank of South Africa v South African Reserve Bank, which determined that cryptocurrencies do not constitute “capital” under the Exchange Control Regulations of 1961 and are therefore not subject to South Africa’s exchange control regime requiring South African Reserve Bank approval for cross-border transfers.

The proposed amendments aim to close a regulatory gap identified after the 2025 ruling, which had left cross-border crypto asset transfers without exchange control oversight. Authorities intend to regulate crypto asset service providers involved in externalizing and repatriating value through cryptocurrencies to prevent regulatory arbitrage and mitigate risks of illicit financial flows.

Once implemented, the changes would require prior approval from the South African Reserve Bank for cross-border crypto transfers above certain thresholds, potentially impacting intra-group crypto asset flows, crypto-based settlement models, and offshore transfers facilitated by service providers.