South Africa’s latest move is pretty pragmatic—it won’t block holdings, and it only focuses on cross-border, giving the market some breathing room.

Mars Finance News, the South African National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) announced that they are shifting the focus of cryptocurrency regulation towards rules for cross-border digital asset activities, rather than restricting ownership itself, and have extended the public comment deadline for the draft Capital Flow Management Regulations to June 30, 2026. The parties also clarified that the proposed rules are not intended to criminalize cryptocurrency holdings and will not be applied retroactively. A subsequent draft manual for the cross-border crypto asset framework will be released, clarifying the definition of cross-border crypto transactions and the obligations of authorized crypto asset service providers.