With reference to recent articles discussing Standard Bank
terminating accounts of several clients offering automated
cryptocurrency arbitrage services, we highlight a few kew points on
the matter in this post.
The South African Reserve Bank's position is simple:
The Exchange Control Regulations prohibit transactions where
capital or the right to capital is, without permission from
National Treasury, directly or indirectly exported from South
Africa. This includes transactions where an individual purchases
crypto assets in South Africa and uses them to externalise 'any
right to capital'. Contravening these regulations is a criminal
offence.
The repatriation of value to South Africa through crypto
assets is not permitted as part of an individual's single
discretionary allowance and/or foreign capital allowance. This is
because of the nature of the assets and because the transaction is
currently not reportable on the FinSurv Reporting System.
