2020 has seen an acceleration in African crypto adoption, with the continent emerging as the second-largest region for peer-to-peer (P2P) trading, and two African nations ranking in the top eight of the Chainalysis crypto adoption index. However, the booming growth has caught the attention of Africa’s financial regulators, sparking concerns that a rush to introduce heavy-handed oversight could quell innovation in the local crypto industry. Nigeria has led the continent’s growth in 2020, posting weekly P2P volumes of between $5 million to $10 million, followed by Kenya and South Africa with between $1 million and $2 million a week each. …

Africans are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange over local fiat currencies, according to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Data from the firm shows that many locals individuals and businesses are using cryptocurrencies to avoid high fees, regulatory complications, and currency instability. The number of monthly transfers to and from Africa has passed the 600,000 mark. The total number of transfers under $10,000 jumped by 55% in the year to June to reach $316 million. Nigeria, which is the continent’s largest economy, South Africa, and Kenya lead the region in cryptocurrency transfers. Abolaji Odunjo, …

A month after the Texas State Securities Board took action against Mirror Trading International (MTI), South Africa’s Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) is also investigating the company’s trading activities. According to the information MTI shared with FSCA, the company conducts high-frequency derivatives trades using bots on behalf of its clients. The financial watchdog said in a statement that the current business model of MTI requires it to own a financial service provider license but it does not seem to have one. The FSCA’s biggest concern was that MTI was promising its clients returns of as much as 10% per month. …

Cryptocurrencies have been around for more than 10 years, but the legal status of Bitcoin (BTC) and most other cryptocurrencies remains unclear and has different definitions in various jurisdictions. Are they money, an asset, a product, property or something else? Should they trade freely or must be tightly regulated? In the absence of a clear answer, governments in the United States and Europe are still issuing legal acts to regulate the cryptocurrency market and trying to determine their attitude toward cryptos. In the first several months of 2020 alone in France, Germany and Australia, authorities issued decisions with three different …

Willie Breedt, a South African national accused of stealing up to $16.3 million from around 2,000 investors via his VaultAge Solutions scheme, has reportedly been forced into bankruptcy by a local court. According to a recent report from News24, the sequestration order was initiated on July 3 by Simon Dix — one of VaultAge’s largest investors, who entrusted Breedt with 7.5 million South African rand, or $440,000. VaultAge Solutions was founded in 2018, promising weekly returns on customer deposits through crypto mining and trading and accepting deposits starting from $50. The scheme’s investors have allegedly received only 1% of expected …

Investors in the South African cryptocurrency firm VaultAge Solutions are planning to file a case against company CEO Willie Breedt for allegedly scamming 2,000 investors out of approximately $17 million. Breedt flees abroad On June 1, Cointelegraph reported that Breedt was believed to have fled South Africa for Mozambique in December 2019. The South African Department of Home Affairs indicated that he hadn’t returned since then. After fleeing to Mozambique, Breedt had reportedly cut all communications with his investors except for one email that tried reassuring them that their funds were safe and would be paid back to them. Local …

Willie Breedt, a South African accused of stealing seven-figures from local investors through his VaultAge Solutions scheme, is believed to have fled the country for Mozambique. The story was reported by News24 on May 29, citing a representative of the South African Department of Home Affairs who indicated that he has not returned to the country since leaving for Mozambique on December 21. Despite allegedly attracting over 2,000 investors, VaultAge Solutions was not registered with South Africa’s Financial Services Conduct Authority. Local police investigate Breedt for fraud VaultAge Solutions was founded in 2018, purporting to offer weekly returns on customer …

Crypto adoption is making significant advances in Africa, with crypto ownership, trade volume, and regulation all moving toward greater adoption. A recent report by Arcane Research and Luno found that Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya are frequently among the top 10 countries by Google searches for the word “Bitcoin.” The report describes the continent as “one of, if not the most promising region for the adoption of cryptocurrencies,” emphasizing Africa’s combination of low existing crypto adoption alongside an “enormous” domain possibility. The firms emphasize that Africa exhibits a young population, frequent monetary crises and currency failures, large unbanked …

A new report published by Arcane Research shows that African countries have some of the highest cryptocurrency ownership rates worldwide. South Africa ranked third throughout the world with 13% of its internet users owning or using cryptocurrencies. Nigeria took the fifth spot with 11% of internet users owning cryptocurrencies. The worldwide average for the same stands at 7%. Indeed, as Cointelegraph recently reported, Bitcoin (BTC) trading volume in Sub-Saharan Africa broke past records posted at the heights of 2017’s rally. Clear interest in crypto Arcane Research noted that Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana feature in the top-10 countries …

Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, now supports direct transactions in South African rand. Users will now be able to deposit rand into their trading accounts in less than 30 minutes if their bank accounts support “Faster Payments Service.” In a blog post on May 12, Binance announced that rand will be available against five major cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) Binance Dollar (BUSD) and Tether (USDT). This seemingly comes as part of Binance’s strategy to invest in cryptocurrency exchanges with prior banking relationships so that they may provide cryptocurrency trading against local fiat …

Western perception of precious African resources usually tends to focus on the diamond trade. However, amid an ongoing pandemic, gold usually surfaces as both one of the most in-demand and discussed assets in the world. Historically known as a risk-off asset, meaning its price is decoupled from most financial markets, gold is a safe-haven asset sought by financial institutions and retail traders alike. While the COVID-19 fallout has sparked widespread losses across global markets, with the price of gold also falling, the precious metal usually weathers financial storms better than most assets. This is in tune with the 2008 financial …

As part of a recent lengthy position paper on crypto, a South African regulatory body called the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group, or IFWG, mentioned crypto as a possible but unlikely risk to the country's monetary system at present. In its April 16 paper, under a section titled "the risks of crypto assets," the IFWG said: "The risk of a parallel, fragmented, non-sovereign monetary system: The risk with potentially the widest-ranging implications is the threat to the existing financial system, in which central banks ensure an efficient monetary system through the execution of monetary policy and influence the supply of money …