Altcoin News: South Africa Has Been Ranked as the Top Country for Ownership of Cryptocurrency

February 20, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

According to a survey conducted by social network management company Hootsuite and the global agency Wearesocial, 10.7% of Internet users in South Africa own cryptocurrencies.

The country ranked first in the number of cryptocurrency users. In second place is Thailand, where 9.9% of mobile device users own cryptocurrency, and Indonesia is in third place, 9.5%.

The results of the study, which was conducted for six months and ended in September 2018, are based on a survey of Internet users aged 16 to 64 years.

The study confirmed that in Africa there was a “revolution” in the field of cryptocurrency. More and more people on the continent are using them to meet both personal financial and business needs, such as the transfer of goods, services, and money at the international and national levels.

According to the study, at the moment a generation of Africans is being formed who buy cryptocurrencies as investment tools, while a relatively small number of citizens are engaged in trading.

Last year, cryptocurrency company Paxful Inc reported a significant increase in cryptocurrency adoption in Africa. The company noted that Africans make up the largest number of people buying and selling cryptocurrency on the Paxful platform.

According to Ray Youssef, CEO of the company, over the past year, the number of users from the African continent has grown by 225%. Operations on the crypto exchanges also increased — by 60% in Nigeria, by 25% in South Africa and up to 100% in other parts of Africa.

Financial regulators of the country appealed to the public with a request to submit proposals on the formation of a regulatory framework for the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) intends to take measures to ensure the legal protection of investors.

One of his proposals is to leave cryptocurrency assets without the status of legal tender, so as not to recognize them as digital money. In addition, the document recommends the development of an appropriate regulatory framework for the process of registering service providers, and proposes a revision of the existing regulatory framework, with amendments.

“The phased approach, starting with the registration requirement, could lead to formal authorization and designation as a registered/licensed provider for crypto asset services operating in South Africa at a later stage,” the Central Bank states.

Author: Marko Vidrih