South Africa Aims to Boost Blockchain Adoption
22 Feb, 2024 ● Coin news
South Africa's annual budget revealed the treasury's strategy to advance the adoption of digital payments, aiming to enhance the lives of marginalized groups through the exploration of stablecoins and blockchain technology.
Outlined in the country's 2024 budget review is a focus on structural reforms and the enhancement of public financial management.
As part of its efforts to promote digital payments, the National Treasury announced forthcoming policy adjustments regarding crypto assets, particularly stablecoins.
"In 2024, the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group will publish additions to include “stablecoins” as a particular type of crypto asset.”
The working group, which published a crypto regulation paper in June 2021, will expand its scope to include stablecoins within the crypto asset classification.
This expansion entails conducting a comprehensive analysis of domestic stablecoins to identify their potential use cases and recommend suitable policy and regulatory measures.
Moreover, amendments to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act may require all institutions to report crypto transactions exceeding 49,999 South African rand ($2,650).
South Africa also intends to assess the impact of blockchain-based tokenization on its domestic financial markets.
By December 2024, the working group is slated to release a paper outlining "the policy and regulatory implications of tokenization and blockchain-based financial market infrastructure."
In collaboration with Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and FinMark Trust, the South African government plans to implement a three-year program involving four digital payments pilot initiatives.
These pilot projects encompass community digitalization, the digitization of payments for informal and low-income workers, cross-border remittances, and cross-border trade.
he overarching goal is to support small and informal businesses by fostering payment innovation.
South Africa's digital disruption initiatives have previously benefited East African farmers, as blockchain technology facilitated access to global markets for remote populations.
Notably, on July 20, 2023, AgTech firm Dimitra partnered with One Million Avocados (OMA), a sustainability-focused tech group, to empower Kenyan avocado farmers by leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain to enhance production and quality.
