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Tuesday Nov 25 2025 20:20
2 min
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has issued its second financial stability report for 2025, identifying digital assets and stablecoins as new areas of concern as user adoption continues to climb.
Published on Tuesday, the report specifically highlights "crypto assets and stablecoins" as posing risks to technology-driven financial innovation. The SARB estimates that the combined user base of the three largest crypto exchanges in South Africa reached 7.8 million as of July, with approximately $1.5 billion held in custody at the close of 2024.
"Due to their exclusively digital – and therefore borderless – nature, crypto assets can be leveraged to circumvent Exchange Control Regulations," the report stated, referring to existing regulations designed to manage capital flows into and out of South Africa.
Beyond established crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC), XRP (XRP), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL), the central bank observed a "structural shift" toward stablecoin adoption, indicated by a significant surge in trading volume since 2022.
"While Bitcoin and other well-known crypto assets served as the primary trading conduit until 2022, USD-pegged stablecoins have since become the preferred trading pair on South African crypto asset trading platforms [...]. This is attributable to the comparatively lower price volatility of stablecoins compared to unbacked crypto assets."
The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the G20's financial watchdog, reported in October that South Africa lacks a fully developed regulatory framework for global stablecoins, with only partial regulations in place for cryptocurrencies. The SARB warns that without a comprehensive regulatory structure, "risks may accumulate undetected" within the crypto space, potentially jeopardizing the country's financial stability.
The SARB's warning echoes similar concerns voiced in 2017, when Deputy Governor Francois Groepe deemed the issuance of digital currencies as excessively risky for South Africa.
However, perspectives within the South African government appear to be evolving. In 2022, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) classified cryptocurrency as a financial product and began issuing licenses to crypto businesses.
Risk Warning: this article represents only the author’s views and is for reference only. It does not constitute investment advice or financial guidance, nor does it represent the stance of the Markets.com platform.When considering shares, indices, forex (foreign exchange) and commodities for trading and price predictions, remember that trading CFDs involves a significant degree of risk and could result in capital loss.Past performance is not indicative of any future results. This information is provided for informative purposes only and should not be construed to be investment advice. Trading cryptocurrency CFDs and spread bets is restricted for all UK retail clients.
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