Cryptocurrency live casino gambling in South Africa is making a major shift as the South African FAIS Act Acknowledges crypto assets! (Photo by Nothing Ahead on pexels.com)
The ongoing saga over the legality of cryptocurrency now looks to have reached judgement day. According to new reports coming out of the country’s mainstream media, a tweak to the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act has confirmed that Crypto assets are now officially a financial product.
For online live casinos in South Africa, the news couldn’t be more welcoming. Whereas players in South Africa can play at Curacao licenced casinos using cryptos, sourcing digital assets and exchanging them has long been a grey area.
Those that have found a way to hold crypto have done so not knowing exactly how their government views ownership, or whether in fact, it is legal for a citizen to own any kind of digital asset. Of course, the main issue this grey area has caused is exchanging crypto to ZAR and vice versa. Now the changes to the FAIS Act have put an end to the confusion.
What this means is crypto asset service providers (CASP) can now apply for a licence and offer South African citizens services such as wallets and exchanges. And for live casino players, it means they can now use their cryptocurrency portfolio as a means to play live casino games online.
FSCA Commissioner signs FAIS Act declaration: Unathi Kamlana, South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) commissioner, signed off on the changes to the FAIS Act. And the new laws are already in place allowing companies to apply for a licence to operate crypto asset services.
Great News for Live Casino Platforms Already Operating Crypto Services
Some of the top live casino software providers operating in the country will also approve now the South African FAIS Act acknowledges crypto.
Evolution, Ezugi, and Pragmatic Play Live are all operating not only on the continent but have struck B2B supply deals with operators specifically in South Africa. Most of these agreements are via domestic intermediary aggregators and supply platforms that supply online gambling platforms with live dealer games. On top of these live dealer brands, BetGames and TVBet also have a presence in the region and will likely also offer cryptocurrency live casino gaming.
The rise of crypto gambling? With crypto now no longer the subject of uncertainty, could this mean that the floodgates are open for crypto advertising? If so, this will surely lead back to live casinos offering crypto live casino bonus deals to attract new memberships to sign up from South Africa.
Was Crypto Legal in South Africa in the First Place?
As mentioned, it has always been a grey area. That said, crypto exchanges do operate in South Africa, and will in fact benefit now the South African FAIS Act acknowledges crypto.
One of the most famous of those is the Valr crypto exchange platform. However, the company has always been frowned upon and operated outside of the country’s FAIS Act under the control of the governmental department, the FSCA.
For those not so savvy about the inner working of crypto and financial regulations, you may think that exchanges operating in the country may see the change as a nuance. Especially as the change to the FAIS Act requires that they must apply for a licence. And while there are obviously certain luxuries to operating outside the boundaries of South Africa’s financial rules and regulations, CEOs are welcoming the news as a step forward. Mostly because the recent decision to amend the Act could just have easily gone against them.
Yes, exchanges and other companies offering digital assets hosted on blockchain ecosystems now must adjust the way they operate. However, now the South African FAIS act acknowledges crypto they can now do so with the peace of mind that as long as they comply, they can operate without risk of government reprisal, and even better still, in a more predictable environment.
What’s more, these exchanges will likely see a boost in business as the ZAR (South African Rand) is not the most stable fiat currency. Some may see options such as Tether as a more secure financial holding. This is great for the live casino industry too because USDT (Tether) is a popular crypto to gamble with. That can only mean more transactions and more money for CASPs.
Licensing Application Period: Licensing under the FAIS Act will need to be completed between 1 June and 30 November 2023. At this point, all exchanges and other CASPs will be obligated to provide information to the FSCA under the same rules as other South African companies operating in the financial sector. Read the full report from news.bitcoin.com here.
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