A worker walks past a Bitcoin display at the National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) booth, inside the National Library in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. Bitcoin slid below $85,000 to start December, this as El Salvador continues its daily buy following a 1,090 Bitcoin purchase last month. Photographer: Camilo Freedman/Bloomberg
The dangers of over-regulating crypto
Proposed new exchange-control rules could cripple South Africa’s crypto industry, undermine self-custody and push transactions offshore, warns MoneyBadger CEO Carel van Wyk.
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South Africa’s attempt to bring crypto into the regulated financial system risks veering into over-regulation, potentially driving both businesses and transactions beyond the reach of local authorities.
The Writer's Room is a curated by Ciaran Ryan, who has written on South African affairs for Sunday Times, Mail & Guardian, Financial Mail, Finweek, Noseweek, The Daily Telegraph, Forbes, USA Today, Acts Online and Lewrockwell.com, among others. In between he manages a gold mining operation in Ghana, and previously worked in Congo. Most of his time is spent in the lovely city of Joburg.