{"id":1666,"date":"2025-11-26T02:30:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T07:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/?p=1666"},"modified":"2025-11-26T02:30:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T07:30:49","slug":"south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa Flags Crypto &amp; Stablecoins as Rising Threat to Financial Stability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"gb-block-image gb-block-image-b1f46619\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" class=\"gb-image gb-image-b1f46619\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-55.webp\" alt=\"South Africa Flags Crypto &amp; Stablecoins as Rising Threat to Financial StabilitySouth Africa Flags Crypto &amp; Stablecoins as Rising Threat to Financial Stability\" title=\"Untitled design (55)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-55.webp 1200w, https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-55-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-55-768x403.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">South Africa\u2019s central bank says the country\u2019s booming crypto market has grown too big to ignore \u2014 and may now pose a real risk to the financial system.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In its latest <strong>Financial Stability Review (2025)<\/strong>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/s\/south-african-reserve-bank.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>South African Reserve Bank (SARB)<\/strong> <\/a>highlighted major concerns over the rapid rise of cryptocurrency adoption and the increasing reliance on U.S. dollar\u2013pegged stablecoins for everyday trading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crypto participation in South Africa has surged to <strong>7.8 million registered users<\/strong> across the nation\u2019s top trading platforms as of July. Exchanges are currently holding around <strong>$1.5 billion worth of digital assets<\/strong> for clients \u2014 a scale that regulators say could amplify economic vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Shift Toward Stablecoins<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The report reveals a notable change in how South Africans trade crypto. Since <strong>2022<\/strong>, stablecoins like USDT and USDC have overtaken Bitcoin and other major tokens as the preferred way to move funds on local platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana remain actively traded, the central bank says stablecoins are gaining ground fast because they offer <strong>lower price swings<\/strong> and a more convenient bridge to U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, SARB warns that these advantages come with a downside:<br>Crypto\u2019s borderless nature makes it easier to <strong>bypass capital controls<\/strong> \u2014 rules designed to manage money flowing in and out of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Regulatory Gaps Raise Red Flags<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa currently has <strong>no dedicated framework<\/strong> to oversee global stablecoins, and only partial regulation covering other crypto assets \u2014 a gap also emphasized by the <strong>Financial Stability Board<\/strong> in late 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The concern:<br>Without clearer oversight, the sector could continue growing unchecked, leaving regulators unable to spot risks before they spread into the broader financial system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bank believes this combination of rapid expansion and limited control already represents <strong>a material financial stability risk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Regulators Not Fully Aligned<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, other agencies have taken a more progressive approach. In <strong>2022<\/strong>, the <strong>Financial Sector Conduct Authority<\/strong> officially recognized cryptocurrencies as financial products and issued licenses to several exchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But SARB remains cautious. Even back in 2017, then\u2013deputy governor Francois Groepe warned that issuing a state-backed digital currency would be \u201ctoo risky\u201d at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Call for Stronger Policy Action<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With millions of South Africans turning to digital assets and stablecoin use soaring, the central bank is urging the government to step up coordination and develop a <strong>comprehensive national crypto strategy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The message from SARB is clear:<br>Crypto adoption isn\u2019t slowing down \u2014 and without stronger rules, financial stability could be tested in the years ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also Read:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/texas\/\"> Texas Takes Major Step Toward First State Bitcoin Reserve<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s central bank says the country\u2019s booming crypto market has grown too big to ignore \u2014 and may now &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"South Africa Flags Crypto &amp; Stablecoins as Rising Threat to Financial Stability\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/south-africa\/#more-1666\" aria-label=\"Read more about South Africa Flags Crypto &amp; Stablecoins as Rising Threat to Financial Stability\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1420,1427,1424,1426,1419,1421,1423,1418,1425,1422],"class_list":["post-1666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency","tag-crypto-adoption-in-south-africa-2025","tag-crypto-financial-stability-concerns-south-africa","tag-financial-stability-review-south-africa-cryptocurrency","tag-sarb-cryptocurrency-warning-2025","tag-south-africa-stablecoin-financial-risks","tag-south-african-crypto-exchanges-regulatory-gaps","tag-south-african-crypto-market-growth-statistics","tag-south-african-reserve-bank-crypto-regulation","tag-stablecoin-oversight-in-south-africa","tag-usd-pegged-stablecoins-trading-south-africa","resize-featured-image"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-55.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1668,"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666\/revisions\/1668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decentralnetwork.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- This website is optimized by Airlift. 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