South Africa
The continent's most developed regime — crypto assets are a financial product and intermediaries need an FSP licence.
Who regulates this
Financial Sector Conduct AuthorityFSCA
Crypto assets declared a financial product under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act in October 2022.
Licences and permissions
Category I FSP licence — crypto assets
Advising on, and intermediating in, crypto assets.
Several hundred licences have been granted since the window opened, so the path is real and well-trodden.
What it takes
Capital
Modest, following standard FAIS financial-soundness requirements.
Timeline
Roughly six to twelve months.
Substance
A South African entity with approved Key Individuals meeting fit-and-proper and competency standards.
Where a software vendor sits
The licence attaches to the intermediary. Technology supply is not a licensed activity, though the FSP remains accountable for its outsourced arrangements.
What catches people out
Exchange-control rules on cross-border value transfer are a genuine and frequently underestimated constraint, and they are administered separately from the FSCA regime.
Verify this yourself
We would rather you checked. These are the primary and authoritative secondary sources behind the summary above.