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South Africa’s Crypto Draft Could Put Crypto Behind Everyday Remittances as SADC Payments Modernise

11 minutes ago EDITOR

EBC Financial Group says South Africa’s proposed ZAR 5,000 transaction limit sits above the size of many ordinary regional remittances, while customers would not need to buy, hold or send crypto themselves.

CAPE TOWN, 13 August 2026 – EBC Financial Group (EBC) says South Africa’s draft crypto rules could apply to the size of payments many people already send across the region. FinMark Trust found that most transfers in the largest formal remittance markets were between ZAR 500 and ZAR 1,899, while the draft sets a ZAR 5,000 maximum per transaction per day for certain person-to-person remittances.

For South African individuals using these authorised remittance services, crypto would not be the money they send. Under the proposal, they would pay the authorised provider in rand and would never own or take possession of the crypto asset. The provider could then use crypto to settle with a foreign payout partner. National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) published the draft Crypto Asset Manual for public comment on 3 August 2026.

David Precious, Senior Market Analyst at EBC Financial Group, said, “People are already sending much smaller amounts across the region, so the ZAR 5,000 ceiling could cover the kinds of payments that are already common in the remittance market. A sender could pay in rand, while the authorised provider deals with the crypto settlement in the background. The customer would not need to buy or manage crypto. What still needs to be seen is whether providers can turn that into a cheaper, faster or more reliable service.”

Why the ZAR 5,000 Limit Stands Out

Real-world remittance data put the proposed limit into context. FinMark Trust found that more than ZAR 4.5 billion was sent in transactions worth between ZAR 1,100 and ZAR 1,299 in 2024 alone. The draft would allow the relevant remittance products up to ZAR 5,000 per transaction per day and ZAR 25,000 per applicant per calendar month.

Not every transfer below ZAR 5,000 would qualify. The draft limits the service to specified remittance transactions between individuals and sets conditions on who can use it and where the money can go. Even so, comparing the two sets of data shows that the proposed ceiling sits well above the transaction sizes common across several of the region’s largest formal remittance markets.

Scale also explains why the proposal is relevant beyond the crypto industry. Formal remittance outflows from South Africa to other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries grew from just under ZAR 6 billion and 4.8 million transactions in 2016 to more than ZAR 19 billion and 15.7 million transactions in 2024, according to FinMark Trust using SARB Balance of Payments data. The ZAR 19 billion figure describes the whole formal market and does not mean all of it would qualify for the proposed crypto settlement route.

Kwanza Joins SADC-RTGS as South Africa Proposes a Separate Crypto Remittance Route

South Africa’s proposal arrives as conventional regional payment infrastructure is also changing. On 27 July, SARB announced that the Angolan kwanza had become the second settlement currency in the SADC real-time gross settlement system (SADC-RTGS), after the system had used only South African rand for settlement since it began in 2013. SARB said the addition supports efforts to reduce costs, increase speed and improve efficiency in cross-border payments.

SADC-RTGS and the proposed crypto remittance route are separate. SADC-RTGS does not use crypto, while the draft Manual separately allows for crypto settlement between specially authorised providers and foreign payout partners for selected remittance transactions. Regional meetings provide an additional timing link. The SADC Council of Ministers is scheduled for 12 to 14 August, followed by the Heads of State and Government Summit in Durban on 17 August. SADC says the Summit will consider issues aimed at accelerating regional integration and development.

Geography places an important limit on the proposed service. The draft says authorised providers may not enter into crypto transactions with residents of Lesotho, Namibia or eSwatini, the other members of the Common Monetary Area alongside South Africa.

Lesotho makes that exclusion particularly relevant. FinMark Trust identifies Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique as the four largest formal remittance destinations from South Africa, together accounting for nearly 90% of formal SADC remittances. This means the proposed crypto settlement route may exclude one of South Africa’s largest regional remittance destinations.

Precious added, “For someone sending money home, the technology in the background is not the main concern. People will look at what they pay, the exchange rate they get, how much reaches the other person and how long it takes. Crypto may give providers another way to settle these payments, but the benefit only becomes real if customers see an improvement in cost, speed or reliability.”