The Crypto Exchange Control Debate Is Far From Settled

The legal position on cryptocurrency and exchange control in South Africa has become considerably less certain than many market participants may have assumed.

In 2025, the High Court in Standard Bank v South African Reserve Bank concluded that cryptocurrency was neither "money" nor "capital" for purposes of South Africa's exchange control framework. The decision was widely interpreted as confirmation that crypto assets fell outside the scope of the existing Exchange Control Regulations, at least until legislators decided otherwise. The recent judgment in Mangundhla v South African Reserve Bank takes a fundamentally different view.

The Gauteng High Court held that Bitcoin constitutes both "money" and "capital" for purposes of the Exchange Control Regulations. The Court went further, describing the earlier Standard Bank judgment as "clearly wrong". It found that transferring Bitcoin to wallets held on foreign exchanges amounted to the export of capital and therefore required